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A review by schenior
Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities by Bettany Hughes
4.0
Most of the book was excellent and certainly 5-star worthy. However, after the Ottomans took over I felt it became a bit.. Euro-centric? Like, it kept giving accounts of "this British person came to Istanbul and thought X"; not sure if I didn't notice it as much when the city was under Christian + pagan rule but I felt like while there were outsider sources they weren't the main focus.
In any case, still very very much worth a read. I like the idea of concentrating on the history of one city in general, and Istanbul/Constantinople/Byzantium is certainly The City to do it for. I'd love to read a book like this about Jerusalem or Beijing. I feel like it clarified the general timeline of the last few thousand years more generally for me too, which is great!
In any case, still very very much worth a read. I like the idea of concentrating on the history of one city in general, and Istanbul/Constantinople/Byzantium is certainly The City to do it for. I'd love to read a book like this about Jerusalem or Beijing. I feel like it clarified the general timeline of the last few thousand years more generally for me too, which is great!