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Review
"'A powerful telling of an extraordinary story, presented with a clarity and a confidence that most academic historians would envy.' Noel Malcolm, Sunday Telegraph 'Narrative history at its most enthralling.' Christopher Silvester, Daily Express 'Engagingly fresh and vivid.' Malise Ruthven, Sunday Times"
Malise Ruthven, Sunday Times
Engagingly fresh and vivid.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
30 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Loads of high-profile historical books are praised to the rafters these days, and yet when you read them you often find that the writer has not fully got to grips with the subject matter, and you end up absorbing little real knowledge or deriving much entertainment.
This book is an exception. Lucid, exciting and thoroughly entertaining, this is one of the best I've ever read.
This book is an exception. Lucid, exciting and thoroughly entertaining, this is one of the best I've ever read.
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
As mentioned elsewhere, this reads almost like fiction ... except it's real, painstakingly sifted and pieced together from a multitude of sources on both sides. The picture that emerges is more complex than I expected; it's about far more than Sultan Mehmet turning up with his huge army and battering the walls down with his great siege guns. Just as important to the outcome was the machinations going on behind those walls and in Christendom as a whole; this is a story of divine portents and tragic schism; of Christians taken and converted (or not) to fight their erstwhile brethren; of commercial greed and rivalry that sometimes took precedence over shared faith, culture, and strategic interests.
Most poignantly, it's the story of a doomed emperor standing with his allies and subjects against overwhelming odds, determined not to be the one to surrender a heritage of 1000+ years and the last living link to antiquity.
The author brings out several turning points where things could have gone differently, that make you wonder "what if?" ... but even as you do so, you realise -- because of the broader picture that he paints -- that even if Constantinople had survived this particular siege (as it had so many before) its ultimate fall was inevitable.
Most poignantly, it's the story of a doomed emperor standing with his allies and subjects against overwhelming odds, determined not to be the one to surrender a heritage of 1000+ years and the last living link to antiquity.
The author brings out several turning points where things could have gone differently, that make you wonder "what if?" ... but even as you do so, you realise -- because of the broader picture that he paints -- that even if Constantinople had survived this particular siege (as it had so many before) its ultimate fall was inevitable.
43 of 48 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
If you have had the pleasure of reading John Julius Norwich's outstanding trilogy on the Byzantine empire then you will know that it comes to an end in May 1453. This book focuses on that fateful day telling the story in an entertaining and absorbing manner. If you are a student of history or just and interested amateur like myself you will find this book excellent, I would recommend reading it along with Runciman's the Fall of Constantinople for a comprehensive overview of this climactic event in world history.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
So good I'm speechless
If all historical reconstructions were this good history would be as popular as the X factor. Okay, perhaps that's an exaggeration but to think that the documentary style narrative... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Mr. D. Cartwright
excellent storytelling
a fantastic read! this book was my first dabble into the conflict between Islam and Christianity, and because of this book i have already bought another 6 more books on the... Read more
Published 21 months ago by rob_hawke
one of the best books I have ever read
If you don't normally read books dealing with history, well, at least read this one.
This is an exceptionally well researched and written story and I can only recommend it to... Read more
This is an exceptionally well researched and written story and I can only recommend it to... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Brian D
Well written, easy to read, proper history
As you can tell from the remarks at the back about sources, and how he used the sources, this is scholarly account of a very interesting period of history - made accessible in a... Read more
Published on 27 Feb 2010 by johnofcambridge
Very well written
As a number of reviewers have already pointed out, the author of this book does an excellent job in chronicling the last days of the great imperial city of Constantinople before... Read more
Published on 25 Feb 2010 by Gogol
what a story-should be a film!!
I read this book as preparation for a trip to Istanbul. We arrived at a small hotel a hundred yards (if that) from Hagia Sophia. Whilst there I read the book again. Read more
Published on 4 Sep 2009 by John K. Tancock
JUST MARVELLOUS
A QUAND LE PROCHAIN LIVRE ?, 1 août 2009
Par Michel Boucaud (Newcastle Angleterre) - Voir tous mes commentaires
JE NE SUIS QU'UN SIMPLE ENSEIGNANT DE LANGUES AVEC... Read more
Par Michel Boucaud (Newcastle Angleterre) - Voir tous mes commentaires
JE NE SUIS QU'UN SIMPLE ENSEIGNANT DE LANGUES AVEC... Read more
Published on 1 Aug 2009 by Michel Boucaud
Excellent Book
Fantastic book; brilliantly written; would thoroughly recommend Crowleys other book (Empires of the Seas) - excellent.
Published on 19 July 2009 by Mr. Bob Vickers
A rapid pageturner
Superbly written, and scrupulously fair (no offensive pro-islamic politically-correct history-heavily-censored garbage like 90% on this subject is these days, nor anti-islamic,... Read more
Published on 16 July 2009 by P. Kennedy
CONSTANTINOPLE: THE LAST GREAT SIEGE, 1453
Illustrates on one level at least, the fallacy of the idea of a `clash of civilisations', as where was the West on the 29th May 1453. Read more
Published on 22 Jun 2009 by Hillpaul
Listmania!
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