Customer Reviews

The Siege of Rhodes

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Nanami Shiono writes popular history in Japanese. Her "East Mediterranean Trilogy" presents three major events in the clash between the Ottomans and the West -- the battle for Constantinople in 1453, the siege and fall of Rhodes in 1522, and the battle of Lepanto in 1571.

THE SIEGE OF RHODES is the second of the trilogy. Its subject is the gargantuan invasion of the island of Rhodes by the Ottomans or Turks under Sultan Suleiman I (almost 200,000 strong) to rid the eastern Mediterranean of the last outpost of Christian Crusaders, the Knights of the Order of St. John (about 600 knights supported by a few thousand mercenaries and civilians). But the book also includes much about the Knights of St. John as a religious knightly order, the "state-of-the-art" fortress and ancillary facilities they constructed on Rhodes, medieval and siege warfare, Sixteenth-Century European politics, and a handful of historical personalities.

The book is relatively short, and it is quite readable. Indeed, it is very much "popular history," so much so that it might be summarily dismissed by Western readers accustomed to certain standards of scholarly history-writing (for example, srictures against lengthy verbatim conversations and the presentation of the subjective thoughts and feelings of historical figures -- two narrative devices quite common to this book). But, aside from the "populistic" narrative devices, the history of THE SIEGE OF RHODES is sound; there is no equally readable and/or focused "scholarly" account currently on the market; and certainly sound popular history is preferable to ignorance.

Although I have not traveled abroad extensively, I did have the good fortune to go to Rhodes once. My brief visit would have been enhanced had this book been available and had I read it.

I purchased this book by mistake thinking it was an historical treatise on the siege of Rhodes (there was no tag "F" for fiction, and the description was scanty to say the least.) It is a short book, easily read in several hours, and in a non-scholarly style apparently to appeal to younger or light readers. It is even politically correct with a homosexual relationship thrown in gratuitously that does not advance the story of the book.

That being said, I enjoyed the book (maybe I needed a diversion from the tomes I normally read.) The narrative was light and chatty with a great deal of invented dialog, but one could imagine that the images created could have been relatively accurate in historical terms. Some of the protagonists are historical, of course, and if nothing else, this book presents these figures to readers who otherwise would never read about them.

The broad outline of the book is pretty much historically accurate, even if the detail conversations, attitudes and actions by the characters (some invented) are fictional or speculative. Most historians will probably condemn this book, but there is a place for historical fiction in literature or the genre typified by Van Wyck Mason, Dumas, Schoonover, Graves and Tolstoy. Author Nanami Shiono does not rise to such heights with this little book, but no doubt she is popular at a certain level.

This books earns a "4" rating for readability and entertainment. It is certainly worth the price of a CD, and just possibly might trigger some interest in its readers to explore the subject of the Crusading Knights of Rhodes (& of Malta) in greater and more accurate detail. If so, then kudos to the author. The subject matter has been long ignored and is definitely worth a Hollywood movie or two, undoubtedly starring Tom Cruse. There is much drama in the declining centuries of the crusading spirit, both on the receding front lines and in the political arena that supported those efforts.

This book, and it's 2 companion volumes, are very simplistic accounts of pivotal moments in renaissance mediterrean history.

As history they are very limited. There are no notes, no bibliographies, no idexes and very limited maps.

Worse, for books purporting to be history, their writing style is juvenile and contrived, more suited to maybe a sixth grade class room than adult history. The books are marred by made up conversations and situations, to perhaps illustrate history, but certainly nothing that was found in whatever research the author might have done.

I can't really see how this writer is the most loved historian in Japan, based on these books. Perhaps the translator has simplified the language and ideas, who knows.

So, if you have a grade school or junior high child who wanted an introduction to these events, they might be useful, but for adult reading they should be bypassed.

All in all, very disappointing efforts for someone who claims to be a historian.