Lords of the Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire

Jason Goodwin

Macmillan, 2003 - History - 368 pages

For six hundred years, the Ottoman Empire swelled and declined. Islamic, martial, civilized, and tolerant, it advanced in three centuries from the dusty foothills of Anatolia to rule on the Danube and the Nile; at its height, Indian rajahs and the kings of France beseeched the empire's aid. In its last three hundred years the empire seemed ready to collapse, a prodigy of survival and decay. In this striking evocation of the empire's power, Jason Goodwin explores how the Ottomans rose and how, against all odds, they lingered on. In doing so, he also offers a long look back to the origins of problems that plague present-day Kosovars and Serbs.

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - Scapegoats - LibraryThing

I found this to be generally entertaining, but poorly organized and only a little useful. The author's main point, if he has one, is that the Ottoman Empire was built on expansion and when that ...

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - VGAHarris - LibraryThing

Some interesting snippets, but very dry reading and lacks thematic unity. You plow through pages and ask " What is the point?" Suffers from a fatal flaw that is a familiar complaint about history writing - it is boring.

Contents

• II: 3
• III: 12
• IV: 22
• V: 29
• VI: 44
• VII: 50
• VIII: 65
• IX: 79
• X: 90
• XI: 110
• XII: 121
• XIII: 130
• XIV: 149
• XV: 158
• XVI: 164
• XVIII: 173
• XIX: 185
• XX: 209
• XXI: 221
• XXII: 237
• XXIII: 245
• XXIV: 256
• XXV: 269
• XXVI: 289
• XXVII: 301
• XXVIII: 322
• XXIX: 327
• XXX: 329
• XXXI: 333
• XXXII: 336
• XXXIII: 337
• XXXIV: 342
• XXXV: 343

About the author

JASON GOODWIN is the Edgar Award-winning author of the Investigator Yashim series. The first five books--The Janissary Tree, The Snake Stone, The Bellini Card, An Evil Eye, and The Baklava Club--have been published to international acclaim, alongside Yashim Cooks Istanbul, a cookbook of Ottoman Turkish recipes inspired by the series. Goodwin studied Byzantine history at Cambridge and is the author of Lords of the Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire, among other award-winning nonfiction. He lives with his wife and children in England.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Lords of the Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire
• Author: Jason Goodwin
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Macmillan, 2003
• ISBN: 0312420668, 9780312420666
• Length: 368 pages
• Subjects: History / Europe / Eastern; History / Middle East / General; History / Middle East / Turkey & Ottoman Empire; History / Military / Aviation