1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West Audiobook

Quotes

• “Gripping…Mixes intriguing details of military history with rich references to the religious imagery that influenced both parties.”

  — Economist (London)

• “Vivid and readable…An excellent traveler’s guide to how and why Istanbul became a Muslim city.”

  — Guardian (London)

• “Crowley manages to invest his retelling with almost nail-biting drama.”

  — San Francisco Chronicle

• “A carefully paced, compelling, and ultimately fair narrative, it is firmly grounded in the original Italian, Greek, and (in lesser number) Ottoman accounts.”

  — Times Literary Supplement (London)

• “A powerful telling of an extraordinary story, presented with a clarity and a confidence that most academic historians would envy.”

  — Sunday Telegraph (London)

• “The story of an ancient city and its attraction to members of two major religions…Perhaps the author’s most instructive point, made by others as well, is that Mehmet turned the city into one where religious toleration and multiculturalism flourished.”

  — Publishers Weekly

• “A fluent history of the annus horribilis in which impregnable Constantinople finally fell to Islam, a key moment in a 1,500-year-long clash of civilizations…[A] swiftly paced, useful guide to understanding the long enmity between Islam and Christianity.”

  — Kirkus Reviews

• “Written in crackling prose…we are treated to narrative history at its most enthralling.”

  — Daily Express (London)