Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World | 
 enlarge | Author: Roger Crowley
Publisher: Random House
Category: Book
List Price: $30.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 3793
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 6 x 2
ISBN: 1400066247
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.21
EAN: 9781400066247
ASIN: 1400066247
Publication Date: July 1, 2008
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Product Description
In 1521, Suleiman the Magnificent, Muslim ruler of the Ottoman Empire at the height of its power, dispatched an invasion fleet to the Christian island of Rhodes. This would prove to be the opening shot in an epic struggle between rival empires and faiths for control of the Mediterranean and the center of the world.
In Empires of the Sea, acclaimed historian Roger Crowley has written his most mesmerizing work to date–a thrilling account of this brutal decades-long battle between Christendom and Islam for the soul of Europe, a fast-paced tale of spiraling intensity that ranges from Istanbul to the Gates of Gibraltar and features a cast of extraordinary characters: Barbarossa, “The King of Evil,” the pirate who terrified Europe; the risk-taking Emperor Charles V; the Knights of St. John, the last crusading order after the passing of the Templars; the messianic Pope Pius V; and the brilliant Christian admiral Don Juan of Austria.
This struggle’s brutal climax came between 1565 and 1571, seven years that witnessed a fight to the finish decided in a series of bloody set pieces: the epic siege of Malta, in which a tiny band of Christian defenders defied the might of the Ottoman army; the savage battle for Cyprus; and the apocalyptic last-ditch defense of southern Europe at Lepanto–one of the single most shocking days in world history. At the close of this cataclysmic naval encounter, the carnage was so great that the victors could barely sail away “because of the countless corpses floating in the sea.” Lepanto fixed the frontiers of the Mediterranean world that we know today.
Roger Crowley conjures up a wild cast of pirates, crusaders, and religious warriors struggling for supremacy and survival in a tale of slavery and galley warfare, desperate bravery and utter brutality, technology and Inca gold. Empires of the Sea is page-turning narrative history at its best–a story of extraordinary color and incident, rich in detail, full of surprises, and backed by a wealth of eyewitness accounts. It provides a crucial context for our own clash of civilizations.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 19 more reviews...
 The Battle for Control of the Mediterranean between the Cross and the Crescent October 14, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I purchased this book on the strength of a favorable review by Lord Norwich, who has written often and authoritatively of the Venetians and the Byzantines in recent years, and I was not disappointed. Like Norwich, the author, Roger Crowley, has a pleasing prose style and a jeweler's precision for the telling anecdote or vignette. Not only does Crowley describe all of the major characters in vibrant detail, but he also provides a postscript on the fates of those who lived beyond the end of his narrative that is illuminating.
What of the subject matter? Crowley provides a concise and compelling account of the struggle between the seemingly unstoppable Ottoman Empire and the contentious but hardly cohesive Christian powers for control of the Mediterranean during the Sixteenth Century. Much of the story is devoted to sieges - the siege of Rhodes, of Malta, of Nicosia, and of Famagusta. Crowley perceptively observes that this struggle for control of the Mediterranean involved surprisingly few major sea battles until the climax at Lepanto.
Crowley has collected the stories of an important fifty-year period between the Turkish victory at Rhodes in 1522 and their defeat at Lepanto in 1571. Included in his subtitle is "the contest of the center of the world." At the conclusion of his account, he notes that by the end of the Sixteenth Century events on larger seas were shifting the center of the world. I would have preferred some additional analysis of this point and some maps and diagrams of crucial events would also have been helpful. The period drawings were all quite good, but they did not offer the perspective to follow the author's detailed account. Notwithstanding my own preferences on these collateral points, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it without reservation.
Truly makes history come alive! October 6, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is both authoritative and extraordinarily readable. It's truly a page-turner, even for people (like me) with no particular fascination with the sea battles between Islam and Christendom. Highly recommended!
 Excellent Book, But Not My Cuppa Tea October 3, 2008
This is an authoritative book, chock with facts and amazement that would normally merit five stars from me. But, through no fault of the author, probably, I rate it four stars because, though brilliantly done, it bored me. Probably says more about me than the author, so I will give it a four for its scholarship, but I only got a three-star enjoyment out of it. And that's because this book is essentially about two battles and once each battle got underway, I found the descriptions boring. They were epic battles, with plenty of action and intrigue, but battles bore me. I can't read about all of the troop movements, flanking movements, legions of dead and wounded, etc., without my eyes glazing over. In other words, this book gave me more than I wanted. But I respect the views of other reviewers who found it outstanding. So, I'm trying to be positive because it is such an important piece of work. It just wasn't my cuppa.
Yesterday's happenings are today's reality September 29, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Here is a recounting of an era not well understood by many very smart people, including those with some considerable political and military background. For you especially, this is well worth the time investment. The book is certainly action-packed. However, more important than the stories of shocking brutality, horrific cruelty, stunning ignorance and unforgivable greed set in a century-long clash of civilizations, is the breathtaking realization that, other than technology, almost nothing about the mind of man has changed. At the end of this book, you might well ask yourself, `Are we really all that different today?'
Very Readable, Excellent Book for the Casual Reader September 23, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Empires of the Sea is a well written and concise history of the struggle between Habsburg Spain and the Ottoman Empire for control over the Mediterranean Sea. Crowley is an excellent historian with a keen eye for detail. He really knows how to tell a story and there are lots of good ones to be told in this book. There are at least four different major events covered in this book, the fall of Rhodes, the career of the great Ottoman Pirate Barbarossa, the siege of Malta, and the Battle of Lepanto, which could make for entertaining books in their own right. Crowley manages to tell all of their stories well and weave them into a coherent narrative.
The book is probably not comprehensive enough for serious scholars. But it is an entertaining read for anyone and an excellent introduction for the general reader to a largely forgotten episode of history.
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