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.