Constantinople: City of the World's Desire, 1453-1924

Constantinople: City of the World's Desire, 1453-1924

by PhilipMansel (Author)

Synopsis

In 1453, Mehmed the Conqueror entered Constantinople on a white horse. This was the start of the Ottoman love affair with the city that lasted until 1924, when the last Caliph, Abdulmecid, hurriedly left on the Orient Express. For almost five centuries Constantinople, with its enormous racial and cultural diversity, was the centre of the dramatic and often depraved story of an extraordinary dynasty. Philip Mansel's highly acclaimed book on the history of a city and a dynasty is an absorbing account for the interaction between the vibrantly cosmopolitan capital, the city of the world's desire, and its ruling family.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 384
Edition: First Edition
Publisher: John Murray
Published: 12 Oct 1995

ISBN 10: 0719550769
ISBN 13: 9780719550768

Media Reviews
'The victory, the defeat, the magnificence, the squalor, the cruelty and the tolerance of the Ottoman years are all recorded there, Constantinople is one of those cities to which I always long to return, and the longing grows on every page' -- Anthony Daniels, Sunday Telegraph 'We no longer have an excuse for our ignorance of a great city in the days of its greatness' -- Church Times 'Admirable... Mansel is at his best when describing the lives led by those in search of the exotic, lulled to sleep in their embassies or waterside villas by the lapping of the Bosphorus and the call to prayer. As a historian of courts, he also captures the spectacle that was the palace, governed by an Ottoman blend of sentiment and cruelty that smelt of blood and tulips' -- Literary Review 'A book of outstanding merit' -- Asian Affairs 'Without question one of the finest books ever written by an Englishman on the Turks' -- Independent '[An] engaging and richly detailed account of the city's history from the Turkish conquest to the end of the Ottoman dynasty' -- Washington Post