Jason Goodwin, Lords of the Horizons (Picador 2003)
I read only 4 chapters of this, the pages allotted as a free Sample, but it was enough for me, since I’m only researching the early Ottomans period.
In that respect, it is more generous that most. Most Ottoman histories begin with Mehmed and the conquest of Constantinople. Whether one takes the line that Ottoman rule was patterned after Byzantine prototypes or that it was uniquely Turkish, this blindness to the early years negates the Eastern origins of this culture.
The structure is thematic, rather than strictly chronological, which makes a history more pleasurable to read as well as more meaningful.
Would that all histories were so beautifully written. The writing style is especially gorgeous, sometimes even to a fault. The eye delights in such phrases as ‘Its ceremonial was Byzantine, its dignity Persian, its wealth Egyptian, its letters Arabic’, but should a history really be making such blanket statements, however eloquent?
Susie Helme 
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