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A review by books17
Ghost Empire by Richard Fidler
4.0
I really enjoyed this - as someone who knows frightfully little about Roman history (East Roman history, at least, I've got a passing knowledge of the Republic and early Imperial), it was quite a good biography of a fascinating and important city.
Fidler goes through the entire history of Byzantium come Constantinople come Istanbul through its entire history as a capital of the world from 300AD - 1453AD, an incredible eleven century journey laden with tragedy and destruction, interspersed with anecdotes from his son Joe and his trip to Istanbul in the early 2010's.
Though written largely as pop history, and a fairly skeletal overview of some fairly major European events, it does a good job of giving an overview of an incredible range of time. I found the asides regarding their trip interesting and heartwarming, but they also jarred slightly with the historical text - I would be turning the page desperate to know what the next horror to befall the great city was only to find a few pages of describing how his son likes a particular Turkish warm coffee.
Regardless, very enjoyable and consumable and has done its job sparking interest in the history of the Queen of Cities.
Fidler goes through the entire history of Byzantium come Constantinople come Istanbul through its entire history as a capital of the world from 300AD - 1453AD, an incredible eleven century journey laden with tragedy and destruction, interspersed with anecdotes from his son Joe and his trip to Istanbul in the early 2010's.
Though written largely as pop history, and a fairly skeletal overview of some fairly major European events, it does a good job of giving an overview of an incredible range of time. I found the asides regarding their trip interesting and heartwarming, but they also jarred slightly with the historical text - I would be turning the page desperate to know what the next horror to befall the great city was only to find a few pages of describing how his son likes a particular Turkish warm coffee.
Regardless, very enjoyable and consumable and has done its job sparking interest in the history of the Queen of Cities.