Lords of the Horizon A History of the Ottoman Empire Paperback - 2000

From the publisher

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 dazzling 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.
Jason Goodwin, whose previous titles include on "Foot to the Golden Horn" and "A Time for Tea," is a regular contributor to "The New York Times" and "Conde Nast Traveler." He lives in England. Since the Turks first shattered the glory of the French crusaders in 1396, the Ottoman Empire has exerted a profound, lasting pull on the Western mindset. For six centuries, it swelled and declined, by turns advancing and almost collapsing. "Lords of the Horizons" explores the strange, dynamic, polyglot empire that sprang from the Balkans, the Black Sea region, and the Middle East: its faith Islamic, its ceremony Byzantine, its dignity Persian, its wealth Egyptian, and its letters Arabic.
In this dazzling and sweeping evocation of an empire's political and cultural power, Jason Goodwin explores how the Ottomans rose and how, against all odds, they lingered on. In doing so, he also looks back to the origins of problems that now plague the Kosovars and Serbs."A meditation on a vanished world that hovers like an apparition over today's grim headlines . . . A work of dazzling beauty . . . the rare coming together of historical scholarship and curiosity about distant places with luminous writing."--"The New York Times Book Review," front page
"Jason Goodwin's deftly written and beguiling history of the Ottoman Empire is particularly pertinent today, when the cauldron of ancient hatreds once more boils over, but his prose would be welcome at any time."--Robert Taylor, " The Boston Globe" "May be read with pleasure and profit by everyone, not least the
traveler headed east of Vienna and west of Baghdad."--Andrew Whiteside, " The Wall Street Journal"

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