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ssindc's review
4.0
Fascinating piece of religious, military, and naval history. Relentless conquest and slaughter in the lord's name - epic sea and island battles; end of the Crusades, holy war with the Ottoman Empire - I'm really glad I wasn't alive then!!! I particularly enjoyed the reader (I listend to this on Audible).
wolvereader's review
4.0
Once again, Crowley tackles the clash of Islam (in the form of the Ottoman Empire) and the Christian West. In [b:1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West|227354|1453 The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West|Roger Crowley|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388203921s/227354.jpg|220224], he covered the fall of Constantinople. In Empires of the Sea, he describes three separate conflicts at the height of the contest for the Mediterranean: the Siege of Malta, the invasion of Cyprus, and the Battle of Lepanto.
As with 1453, I found the prose engaging and the stories fascinating. Occasionally it was difficult to keep the various people straight, though that's hardly Crowley's fault--this is history, not fiction, and he didn't really have a choice about who to include or what their names were. I felt that the siege of Malta was covered in greater depth and was more gripping than the later two battles, and the invasion of Cyprus felt like the weakest section. In the final chapter, the author makes a good case for why Lepanto was a defining battle for its age and what these conflicts ultimately meant to history.
Recommended for those interested in the history of the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
As with 1453, I found the prose engaging and the stories fascinating. Occasionally it was difficult to keep the various people straight, though that's hardly Crowley's fault--this is history, not fiction, and he didn't really have a choice about who to include or what their names were. I felt that the siege of Malta was covered in greater depth and was more gripping than the later two battles, and the invasion of Cyprus felt like the weakest section. In the final chapter, the author makes a good case for why Lepanto was a defining battle for its age and what these conflicts ultimately meant to history.
Recommended for those interested in the history of the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
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