Jason Goodwin
Pirate of the Middle Sea
Empires of the Sea: The Final Battle for the Mediterranean 1521–1580
By Roger Crowley
Faber & Faber 341pp £20 order from our bookshop
Three years ago, Roger Crowley published an account of the siege of Constantinople that gave Runciman’s classic on the subject a run for its money. A superb summary of the forces that met in that fateful year of 1453, it established Crowley’s gift for narrative history, the history of dates and kings and sultans and jealous courts, of accidents and strokes of fortune.
Now he has done it again. Empires of the Sea confirms Crowley as master of the Mediterranean between 1521 and 1580, marshalling his understanding of men and tides as brilliantly as any of the Ottoman corsairs or crusading sea-dogs he writes about so knowledgeably and enjoyably. At stake, in those years, was the faith and security of the whole Mediterranean world.
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
'This book takes in a lot of territory, all solidly researched and footnoted. But dry? Fuhgeddaboutit.'
Patricia T O'Conner on E J White's 'You Talkin' To Me? The Unruly History of New York English'.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/tawk-of-the-town
'The identification of a mighty force sparkling intermittently seems to me to constitute the finest and most consistent poetic achievement of Goudie’s book.'
Candia McWilliam on @lachlangoudie's 'The Story of Scottish Art'.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/all-that-glisters
Though 'the hotel had a reputation as the area’s best, its staff were not used to looking after world leaders, so the arrival of Cuba’s new strongman, Fidel Castro, came as something of a shock.'
@dcsandbrook on @simonhallwriter's 'Ten Days in Harlem'.
http://ow.ly/I63850Bvs10