I recently started to re-read this book, as I had grabbed it at the last minute from my book shelve as I was heading out for a week's vacation. My earlier "review" was far too kind and I will reduce my number of stars from 2 to 1. After attempting to re-read this book, I'd like to start my review with: This book stinks. It's a waste of time to read this fable, written by an author who's specialty is Travel Brochures. It reads just like that, or more accurately, like a bedtime story to eager children. For example, on page 4, Goodwin writes, "They could fire arrows backwards from the saddle at a moving target, at a rate of three a second, ......" Really, Jason? Is that a fact?? I'll leave my earlier review, below, untouched, but after reading several other books on the history of the Ottomans and Islam, I realize this book is worse than I originally thought.
Therefore............ here's my original review: This book is a fairly easy read and not too long, about 325 pages with a fairly easy to read font size. But I don’t recommend it unless it’s to a person who wants to read it as their first introduction into the history of the Ottoman Empire. I think it would be a good “skeleton” on which to build more details in further readings, but even so, this skeleton is missing a lot of bones.
To me this composition lacked authenticity, as not a single footnote for reference was used throughout the book. I kept asking myself questions such as, “Who said that?” “Where did that statistic come from?” “How can I be sure if that statement is accurate?”
One example of many, many statements needing foot notes or reference points throughout the book is seen on page 227. Goodwin writes, “There were 56 assaults and 96 sorties; both sides exploded exactly 1,364 mine each.” Really? Where did he get that data? Did he make it up? Did he read it somewhere? If so, he needs a footnote for reference.
Also, the final chapter, “Epilogue,” appeared to me to be merely conjecture. It read like the end of a fairy tale. The entire chapter was a story about the dogs in Salonica and Istanbul near the end of the Empire. He describes how they became problematic to the citizens and therefore, were rounded up and shipped over to an island in the Sea of Marmara, but later swam back. Is that a fact? Where did that detail of history come from? He could have omitted the entire “Epilogue.” It was hogwash.
I’ve read several books on the Turks and the Ottoman Empire and most were difficult to read because of the names of individuals, places, time periods, etc. But that’s to be expected because I speak only English. I got through them because the subject interested me. If you’ve already read several books on the Ottoman Empire, you can skip this one. There are others far better than this one.
ISBN-13:
978-0312420666
ISBN-10:
0312420668
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It reads like a monlogue by a tour guide pointing out points of interest from a tour bus.............
Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2016Verified Purchase
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