Later that day the guns of Saint Angelo opened up. A volley of human heads bombarded the Ottoman camp across the water. There would be no repeat of the chivalrous truce at Rhodes.

As noted this marks my first ever tandem read with my brother. I am immensely proud of him but few would ever regard him as bookish. He had a brief infatuation with Rimbaud and Keats 20 years ago but that was soon abandoned. He now works on or around Pennsylvania Avenue. His attitudes have softened and become more nuanced. Over Thanksgiving I had expressed an ongoing interest in Medieval/Renaissance matters and we wound up agreeing on this text.

I remarked rather quickly to my brother that this isn't great history but it is a compelling albeit horrifying narrative. Mr. Crowley couches his text in terms of a teleology, an ongoing "clash of civilizations" which will only be resolved in some distant future. There is no regard for the Pirenne Thesis. There are simply arguments about a universal dichotomy, one of which neither party could agree on anything, not even the primacy of their conflict. Nor is there any need in speaking of a consensus regarding either the Christians or the Muslims in the 16th Century. The Holy Roman Empire devoted much more of its resources to fighting the French and the Protestants than it ever did the Ottomans.

That said what unfolds is bleak. Navies of the time were dependant on rowers and this perk-free position had to be filled by ongoing slaving. Thus the soul of the World's Center was at stake and the means to victory were human bondage.

In his afterward, Crowley notes the abundance of accounts left from the events and its participants. I wish he would've spent more time sifting, parsing and comparing the merits of rival testimony. Call me an idealist, but isn't that the nature of a historian?

I've traveled to Rhodes in august and this book was the perfect companion. I had some ideas about the naval war between the Ottomans and the Catholics, but I've never thought that the Mediterranean Sea in the 16 century was such in interesting place.

Fascinating and very well written. Another fantastic and mooving book from RC.

Loved it! Highly readable account of the epic sieges and colossal sea battles of the 1500's and the economic and political forces that propelled them.

I am so glad this book was written. There are many books out now about the clash between Christian Europe and the ottoman empire and most of them are trash. Across the political and religious spectrum, they tend to make surface level comparisons to current religious issues that really aren't similar at all.

This book does absolutely none of that. Crowley explains that this is first and foremost a clash between empires and personalities; religion was an issue that came far in second.

I had learned about the heroic defense of Malta by the knights of St. John, holding back the Ottoman hordes to save European civilization. What I had not learned was that Malta's defenses was mostly built by slave labor, captured Muslims taken by the holy order of knights in raids, a regular action for the noble warriors of Christendom.

Conversely, I long believed that the infamous stories of the Corsair Barbarossa were heavily exaggerated. But no, his dark legend and reputation was very well deserved. To live in the Mediterranean then was to live in abject terror of the Barbary corsairs, and for very good reason.

Excellent and very readable book about the great 16th century clash in the Mediterranean. Important for understanding how Europe was set up for colonialism, and how history of this era has become very mythologized.

Truly enjoyed this book, from beginning to end! Crowley pretty much put you right in the action, describing things from both the Christian v. Ottoman sides (Christian because throughout the book, Christian response was almost always counterproductive, various factions juggling to sway things in their favor and against their fellow Christians). Never knew how often a '300' style event occurred. Once I got started, I couldn't put it down. The end was kinda weird, which is not the fault of the book, it's what happened, since after the severe loss of ships and men, the Ottoman empire quickly replaced them, but it described why it was basically the final battle even though both opponents survived intact (neglecting the heavy loss of men, ships, equipment, and money).

Enjoyable and brisk.