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Lords Of The Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire
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Product Description
The New York Times
A work of dazzling beauty...the rare coming together of historical scholarship and curiosity about distant places with luminous writing.
Book Description
'Brilliant and beautifully written' Daily Telegraph
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I was given this book as a gift. I was looking for an informative history of the Ottoman Empire, having very little knowledge on the subject.
I am left with the impression that the author has a wealth of knowledge on the subject but has not managed to communicate it to me. Unfortunately the book is written in a style making it difficult to follow the thread of history, jumping constantly from one part in time to another, introducing quotes from people without explanation of who they were or why their quote might be important. The author seems to assume that the reader already knows what he is talking about. The addition of more maps to the text would greatly help to illustrate the history.
Perhaps my requirements were never going to be met by this book, but I wouldn't recommend it. Sorry!
32 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I was looking for a comprehensive account of the history of the Ottoman Empire and I stepped into this book. This is a strange book. It is divided in chapters not in a chronological order, but rather by mixing up chronology and the exam of particular issues: quite strange and diverse issues, I must say, like sieges, dogs(!), houses, dresses...
Political and economic analysis are not made in depth, although the author makes here and there some very interesting remarks.On the other hand, the narration is full of funny (and sometimes scary) anecdotes, and actually the atmosphere of the Ottoman empire in its various phases is conveyed quite effectively. The chapters on the "cage", the harem and the early expansion of the Empire are excellent.
It's a good reading, in the end, althoug people looking for a serious, structured and reliable account of the empire should look elsewhere (Kinross?).
A final note: the language used by the author is very sophisticated and quite often (my mother tongue is not english) I've needed a dictionary....and sometimes I couldn't even find in the dictionary some of the nouns and adjectives used by the author!!
Political and economic analysis are not made in depth, although the author makes here and there some very interesting remarks.On the other hand, the narration is full of funny (and sometimes scary) anecdotes, and actually the atmosphere of the Ottoman empire in its various phases is conveyed quite effectively. The chapters on the "cage", the harem and the early expansion of the Empire are excellent.
It's a good reading, in the end, althoug people looking for a serious, structured and reliable account of the empire should look elsewhere (Kinross?).
A final note: the language used by the author is very sophisticated and quite often (my mother tongue is not english) I've needed a dictionary....and sometimes I couldn't even find in the dictionary some of the nouns and adjectives used by the author!!
31 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I bought this book to read on my recent trip to Turkey, to help give me some historical context, but I was sorely disappointed.
I know a little bit of history about a lot of places as well has having a fairly detailed knowledge of some subjects (I have a history degree) but I knew very little about Turkey so I hoped that this book would give me a quick overview.
Unfortunately the structure of the book didn't give me any kind of historical perspective; it didn't really talk about events or the causes of events. I wanted to understand how the Turks came to form the Ottoman empire, how they held it together. I wanted to understand the personalities of its rulers and their impact on events so that when I saw their portraits in the Topkapi Palace I had some appreciation of who they actually were.
In short, it is not a history book as such, more a collection of cultural and historical snapshots. I felt that to really get the best out of this book the reader would need to have a fairly good basic grounding in Ottoman history. Sadly, I still don't!
I know a little bit of history about a lot of places as well has having a fairly detailed knowledge of some subjects (I have a history degree) but I knew very little about Turkey so I hoped that this book would give me a quick overview.
Unfortunately the structure of the book didn't give me any kind of historical perspective; it didn't really talk about events or the causes of events. I wanted to understand how the Turks came to form the Ottoman empire, how they held it together. I wanted to understand the personalities of its rulers and their impact on events so that when I saw their portraits in the Topkapi Palace I had some appreciation of who they actually were.
In short, it is not a history book as such, more a collection of cultural and historical snapshots. I felt that to really get the best out of this book the reader would need to have a fairly good basic grounding in Ottoman history. Sadly, I still don't!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Mesmerizing
"Lords of the horizons" by Jason Goodwin is a collection of stories surrounding the Ottoman Empire: in particular its position as a European and Balkan power. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Basileus
fun, fascinating, and deep
This book offers a stark contrast to Kinross' The Ottoman Centuries. Kinross' book is dry, stuffily pedantic, and laden with the details of obscure territorial skirmishes. Read more
Published 12 months ago by rob crawford
A work of art
This is not a history in the proper sense - you'll probably get that idea from the other reviews, to be honest. Read more
Published on 27 Nov 2009 by C. Flaherty
Very good (though not a 'history')
I actually read this book twice, and after the first reading was disappointed. I had expected to get a traditional (for lack of a better word) 'history': a chronological overview... Read more
Published on 30 Aug 2009 by Didier
You call this history?
1993 John Llewellyn Rhys/Mail on Sunday Prize winning travel writer Jason Goodwin built on his studies of Byzantine history at Cambridge University and laid the foundation for his... Read more
Published on 10 Jun 2009 by Mutt
Informative but incredibly dry
This book was quite informative, but exremely dry. I am an absolute history freak and read history books constantly. Read more
Published on 23 Oct 2007 by Gordon Eldridge
A haphazard miscellany
This book disappointed me. Trailed as a history, I expected something more robust than what seemed to me to be a collection of jottings from the author's limited library. Read more
Published on 12 Oct 2006 by Peter Tompkins
A collection of essays rather than a history book
The book is written by a journalist who apparantly knows his subject well. However, somehow he fails to make the story interesting and readable. Read more
Published on 21 Mar 2006 by Heino Viik
No,No,No.
This book seems to have been written with the assumption that the reader already knows most of the history of the Ottoman Empire,and the Author is simply embellishing certain... Read more
Published on 18 Oct 2004 by Chesty Morgan
Don't even bother
This book may well be beautifully written, in fact it is almost poetic in its turn of phrase and expression. Read more
Published on 18 Mar 2004
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