Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities Hardcover – September 12, 2017

Man, Bettany Hughes' books are always such a treat! You always know when you crack open the cover and dive into those 700 pages that you're not going to get straight history. Rather, you get a poetic description rich with content and...well...something that's not simple, linear history.Many great (and terrible) history books are all written in a similar, familiar style. They provide a connect-the-dots presentation of the content: books that are engaging and informative. At their best, they transport you into the past to really feel the culture and issues of that bygone era.Bettany Hughes new book, "Istanbul," (just like her previous two books) approaches history differently. It's complex--almost mythical, but always rooted in her extensive personal research and the most recent scholarship.Hughes uses beautiful prose to interweave past and present. She'll put you in a specific place--some little back alley of Istanbul... or anyplace!--and within a few sentences dazzle you with descriptions from antiquity and present of that one place. Past and present merge. Eras crash together. All history seems to synthesize. You feel it all at once. This isn't straight, linear history... it's mystical, visceral history!Reading "Istanbul" is a bit like being a geologist studying the layers of rock on a cliff face. There it all is, past and present together, piled in artful layers. You get a sense of both history and timelessness.That's not to say there's no linear, historical development in this book. There certainly is a good, old fashioned connect-the-dots, cause-and-effect telling of Istanbul's biography here. Hughes spends 700 pages walking us from antiquity to modernity. But if you pick up this book, open it to any chapter, read it, and you'll find a confluence of many historical streams flowing into that one moment and place.Reading this book is a joy in the same way "Helen of Troy" and "Hemlock Cup" were. I love Bettany Hughes' books! I bought both this book and her last one the day they arrived in the store. So, September 12, 2017 was a special day for me when this one hit the shelves. Reading her books can take you on quite a trip. They are a drug I quite enjoy!

Bettany Hughes, in this marvelous book, paints a lush panorama of life in Istanbul from the iron age to the age of Erdogan. She tells us both what happened and what it felt like: sounds, sights, smells, tastes and touch. And, while all roads may have led to Rome, all waterways led to Istanbul, making it a city of superlatives and sometimes also of extremes—courage, urban development, upward mobility and freedom…but also cruelty, catastrophe, inequality and slavery. The role of women in the history of this remarkable city are highlighted as well. Lively, engaging and comprehensive, this book is a great introduction to the many faces of Istanbul as well as those within and how they affected the world. Highly recommended.

This is a good book, but several comments can be made regarding its contents. The first section beginninhg with Byzantione and ending with the decline of the Byzantine Empire with the conquest of Constantinople by Sultan Mehmet II in 1453 is very detailed. Within this section I know the destruction of Old Rome, the establishment of New Rome and of the Byzantine Empire. I know in detail the 4th crusade by the Venetians in 1204 whose aim was Jerusalem, but who were so surprised by the beauty of Constantinople that they stayed there, destroyed it and returned to Venice with a variety of art works which today can be observed in Venice. The section is good in describing the discoveries the excavations have made during the construction of the tunnels in Istanbul. My comments refer to the Ottoman section of the book. Early in this section the book emphasizes the role of royal women praising them being the ones whose behavior in bath houses brought the renaissance by playing some role in the palace and/or requiring the construction of mosques. This is not renaissance. Subsequently it returns at length to their behavior in the harem, the way their dress, expresses in detail their behavior in bath houses, inviting guests there, including Lady Montagu and other European visitors. But with respect to events, especially with respect to battles between the Ottoman Empire and Europe, I find it explaining in detail those won by Europe, but mentioning extremely simply those in which Ottomans are defeated. For example, as the first siege of Vienna is concerned it is simply stated that the Ottomans had arrived to the walls of the city, but Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent withdraws due to inclement weather. However, the third siege of Vienna in 1683 by Sultan Mehmet IV occupies a whole chapter, even mentions the decapitation off the Vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha who was the commander. Well, it was a successful event for the West. Also the sea battle of Lepanto in 1571, which is a defeat for the Ottomans, is analyzed in detail including the beheading of its commander Muezzinzade Ali Pasha. The Janissary corps is treated very lightly. There is no mention of the gradual decline of their organization after the reign of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent, becoming a state in a state, changing viziers as well as killing them, dethroning and killing sultans, even raping them, appointing new ones , and becoming very powerful. Finally Sultan Abdulmecid I eliminates them in 1826. The author mentions their elimination in the list at the end of the book. My most important comment is the slight emphasis on the real renaissance during the reign of Sultan Ahmet III, which unfortunately lasted a short time. The author describes in detail the conquest and the development of the city thereafter with the Sultan Mehmet II increasing its population by bringing in migrants from different areas and undertaking new constructions in the city. The author refers to the successful achievements of the sultan also as renaissance, which it is not. The real renaissance occurred during the reign of Sultan Ahmet III together with his Grand Vizier Ibrahim Pasha, but lasted unfortunately a short time. The author gives slight emphasis to this real renaissance.As Turkish history books do, the author also refers to this period as the Tulip Age. But in the Ottoman Empire the love for tulip is nothing new. Even before the reign of Sultan Ahmet III tulip was a favored flower. Moreover, the word lale (tulip) and Allah (God), when written in Arabic letters contain the same letters. Sultan Selim I had brought 50,000 bulbs from Aleppo; Sultan Murad III 300,000 bulbs from Crimea to plant in the gardens of the palace. According to Evliya Celebi there occurred a tulip market in Istanbul. But the age is not a Tulip Age. It is an Age that began with the activities of Grand Vizier Ibrahim Pasha and became the beginning of art, poetry, music, science and westernization, and the first -- and I insist the first -- and the last renaissance period. The great orientalist Bernard Lewis is of the same opinion. The changes it brought could not spread to the entire country; they occurred in Istanbul and to a certain extent in Konya and Nevsehir. A book is required to describe the developments that took place during this period. It was a period when liberal arts and thoughts developed, it was the beginning of an enlightenment in the fields of science, architecture, painting, miniature, music and poetry. For this purpose a movement towards the West occurred. Ibrahim Pasha succeeded in achieving only a part of what needed to be done. But because of the conditions of the society in which he lived it ended in 1730 with the rebellion led by the yeniceri Patrona Halil, as the author indicates in the list at the end of the book. This section should have been given more than its rightful due than the behavior of women described in several chapters.

I read this as preparation for a three week vacation to Istanbul. Short chapters allow for measured reading, but you’ll wish they were longer. I want more. Informative, easy to read, and so interesting.

This is a long but worthwhile read. Scholarly but almost unputdownable at the same time. A book to be savoured.

Very much quality content

I read this before visiting Istanbul on vacation and it made me appreciate the city and its history much better than I would have otherwise. A good approachable read that doesn't skimp on details or scholarly sources—there are lots of starting-off points if you'd like to do more historical reading about Istanbul or otherwise.

Amazing book

Bravo Bethany Hughes. As I strolled around the streets of Istanbul, this book brought the forgotten corners to life, such as the remnants of the Serpent Column, a reminder of the forgotten Spartan days of the city of Byzantion.Equally unmentioned in most touristic tales is the Egnatian Way, where all roads lead to Rome. The stories of the colour factions of the cities (greens, blues, reds and whites) will give comfort to football fans that it’s not just a game or modern notion. The city’s leaders would attend these events because - without Twitter - how would one know ones popularity without a chorus of boos/cheers.Enter Constantine, mad and brutish. Of course it’s inpoosible to tell the story of Istanbul without interlocking early years of Christianity with tales of Rome, Alexandria and Jerusalem. There is a fascinating chapter of the silk worm and resulting stench in the city as it centre of centre of trade. So much so that the Vikings made it to the Hagia Sophia. The Viking insight is truly fascinating, indeed we are told they warped into the Rus (or precursor to Russians) from this time.A mere 300 pages into the book we get a first mention of Islam and the resulting crusades, which to be frank I felt received little attention compared to the 300 pages on Greco-Roman history. Similarly the sections on the Ottoman Empire are relatively scant. That can happen when one goes to Oxford where they believe the history worth knowing seems to stop at the fall of the Roman Empire and restarts in 1914.Yet, she does give us a brilliant chapter on the Siege of Vienna. Furthermore if you go to the Hagia Sophia you will see a sign saying the Third Rome with a map showing Moscow. All is explained within with an ensuing war between Russia and the Ottomans ( Britain sided with the Ottomans to halt Russian expansion resulting in the Crimean war and the charge of the Light Brigade). The city was becoming cosmopolitan and European again before WW1, when Britain turned the gun on the Turks.She turns to the Sykes-Pickot agreement (though I disagree with her that the S-P agreement was not implemented. The main elements of its divisions were implemented, just not to the letter). Britain and the western world finally had control again of Istanbul after almost a 1000 years. Kemal Attaturk saw an end to that, establishing the capital in the Ankara, less susceptible to western influence.What an exceptional book. The chapters are a mix of short and long to great effect. She knows when to say to something of interest but also how to keep it short. She shows incredible dedication as a historian now just on paper but in practice, performing an experiment to burn pig fat to see if they really could melt bronze.Extraordinary. Even beats SSMs “Jerusalem” as one of the best city biographies. One for the ages.

What history books should be about - not packed with dates, though there's and excellent "timeline" at the back - but providing the atmosphere of the times and putting it context with later and current developments. I've got Greek and Constantinopolitan affinities and this book has touched a cord. Also the tone and language is such that you've got difficulty setting the book down.