A review by ckeeve
1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West by Roger Crowley

5.0

Crowley is a great storyteller, and gracefully weaves between a really dynamic set of timelines, geographical spaces, and historical figures (with varying levels of reliability). The book's divided chronologically, starting from the decades of decline of the Byzantine empire to the centuries after the fall of Constantinople. The chapters vary in specificity from a few hours in a particular part of the city to a few hundred years of geopolitics. Crowley is fairly candid about the tenuousness of the historical record and the reliability of historians and records from the time, but also refrains from historical or personal bias. Through parts of it, you'll have to dredge through the mechanics of siege warfare and the gruesome realities of sacking a medieval city, but all in all it's a pretty satisfying read.