The Ottoman Empire was a "mystery wrapped inside the enigma". This book aims to unravel the mystery in two ways. Firstly, it looks at the Ottomans and their world in terms relevant to an eastern Islamic society, with its own principles and practices that seemed merely barbaric to the West. The book also comes to terms with the West's expectations of the Ottomans. The author's aim is both to tell the story and offer some explanation. The book interprets the Ottomans, to make sense of a society that to Western eyes seemed feckless and utterly corrupt, cruel and craven by turns. It was frequently all of these things but not without reason or cause.

The Ottomans: Dissolving Images

History

WHEATCROFT, Andrew

Middle East

Penguin??Books

The Habsburgs have been described at one extreme as demons – responsible for a ‘long history of atrocities’; and, at the other, as dodos – living fossils unable to adapt to the modern world. In reality, the flamboyant royal family appear, in many ways, to have behaved much like most other monarchies. Their story, however, is none the less enthralling for that. It is populated by such unforgettable figures as mad Queen Juana, progressing through Spain with her husband’s decaying body; the ‘heroically fertile’ Maria Theresa, and the quixotic Maximilian, ‘Emperor’ of Mexico.

The Habsburgs: Embodying Empire

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

How did we learn to hate or despise? Simply, because we were taught to. In 638 the Christian Patriarch of the Holy city of Jerusalem called the Muslim Caliph's presence an abomination in the sight of God. Christians and Muslims have since regarded each other warily and have silently thought of each other as 'infidels.' This book traces the long history of this troubled relationship. It was a campaign without end, waged with the pen, through the printing press, by the power of the human voice and on sublte and insidious suggestions with paintings, drawings and engravings. In this brilliant book we see how and why a battle is still being waged today, through the press, books, television, radio and the internet.

Infidels

Religion & Spirituality

Religious Studies

Penguin Uk

A fascinating chronicle of the prelude to war focuses on Europe's reticence to stop Hitler, the communications gap throughout the continent, and the effects of events in the USSR and the Far East on European affairs. Reprint.

The Road to War: Revised Edition

Overy, Richard

Military

The Dying Empire: Europe's Cataclysm

Europe

Bodley Head

Major historian Andrew Wheatcroft reveals the full story behind four centuries of Ottoman incursions into the heartlands of Europe.\nIn 1683, two empires — the Ottoman, based in Constantinople, and the Habsburg dynasty in Vienna — came face to face in the culmination of a 250-year-old struggle for power at the Great Siege of Vienna. Within the city walls, the choice of resistance over surrender to the largest army ever assembled by the Turks created an all-or-nothing scenario: every last survivor would be enslaved or ruthlessly slaughtered.\nAlthough it was their most famous attack, the 1683 siege was the historical culmination of the Turks’ sustained attempt to march westwards and finally obtain the city they had long called “The Golden Apple.” Their defeat was to mark the beginning of the decline of the Ottoman Empire.\nWith Turkey now seeking to re-orient itself towards the West and with a new generation of politicians exploiting the residual tensions between East and West, The Enemy at the Gate provides a timely and masterful account of this most complex and epic of conflicts.\nFrom the Trade Paperback edition.

The Enemy At the Gate: Habsburgs, Ottomans and the Battle for Europe

The world atlas of revolutions

Literature & Fiction

Hamish Hamilton

Who's Who in Military History looks at those people who have shaped the course of war. Broad in geographical and chronological scope, it concentrates on all the major periods and conflicts in history, from 1453 up to and including the Persian Gulf War. It provides: * detailed biographies of the most interesting and important figures in military history * a series of maps showing the main theatres of war * a glossary of common words and phrases * a unique and valuable source of information for both the student and the general reader.

Who's Who in Military History: From 1453 to the Present Day

Keegan, John.

Routledge

Who's Who in Military History: From 1453 to the Present Day (Who's Who Series)

The Routledge Who's Who in Military History looks at those men and women who have shaped the course of war. It concentrates on all those periods about which the reader is likely to want information - the eighteenth-century wars in Europe, the American Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars and the major conflicts of the nineteenth-century. There is full coverage of the First and Second World Wars, and the many post-war struggles up to and including the Gulf War. It provides: * detailed biographies of the most interesting and important figures in military history from about 1450 to the present day * a series of maps showing the main theatres of war * a glossary of common words and phrases * an accessible and user-friendly A-Z layout The Routledge Who's Who in Military History will be a unique and invaluable source of information for the student and general reader alike.

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