Crowley's account of the rivalry between the Spanish and Ottoman Empire's for control of the Mediterranean Sea is well told and informative. This is the second of Crowley's books I have read in the last year and I must say I am becoming a fan. Part of why I enjoyed this book so much may be because I have never studied this area of history so much of it was new; however, I still have to say that the way Crowley relates the history is compelling in itself. It comes across as well-researched history, but doesn't feel dense or bogged down like many others. It has the pace and ability to grab your attention like a popular history, without feeling light or frivolous.

My only criticism is that he seemed to get bogged down relating the siege of Malta. I can't tell you how many times in a single chapter he used a variant of the phrase "they were running out of time..."

I look forward to reading more of Roger Crowley's books.

I chose this book hoping to learn more about the century that followed the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople and was not disappointed. The first part of the book was especially engrossing, setting the stage for the conflict between the Ottoman desire for continued westward expansion and the efforts of the Spanish kings, the Popes, and the Venetian merchants to defend their established territory. All of this played out in the Mediterranean, in a series of never ending skirmishes along the coasts and a number of decisive battles: the Ottomans first taking the island of Rhodes, then failing to take Malta, and finally suffering a massive defeat at sea that exhausted the resources of both empires. The result was an uneasy peace and a reorientation of aspirations, with the Ottomans turning to the Persians in the east and the Hungarians to the north, and the Spaniards engaging Protestant Europe and the New World. My interest waned in the middle of the book, when the descriptions of particular battles became excessively detailed. But the book picked up again at the end and left me wanting to read more: about the Crusades that preceded this period, about the Catholic-Protestant wars that followed it, about the origins of the Ottoman Empire, and about the Muslim settlement of Northern Africa.

Very readable account of the sixty years war between the west and the Ottoman Empire in the Mediterranean. This period of history is absolutely fascinating, an intersection between the modern artillery dominated battlefields and the medieval slugfests. There was heroism and barbarism on both sides, and this conflict eerily sets up the current conflict between jihadis and the west.

Makes me want to write something inspired by Lepanto, guy Gavriel Kay style

An engaging narrative history about an area I don't know much about. Definitely want to read more about the Ottomans.