Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

One of Time's 12 Books for the History Buffs on Your Holiday Gift List

The first single-volume history of Istanbul in decades: a biography of the city at the center of civilizations past and present.

For more than two millennia Istanbul has stood at the crossroads of the world, perched at the very tip of Europe, gazing across the shores of Asia. The history of this city--known as Byzantium, then Constantinople, now Istanbul--is at once glorious, outsized, and astounding. Founded by the Greeks, its location blessed it as a center for trade but also made it a target of every empire in history, from Alexander the Great and his Macedonian Empire to the Romans and later the Ottomans. At its most spectacular Emperor Constantine I re-founded the city as New Rome, the capital of the eastern Roman empire, and dramatically expanded the city, filling it with artistic treasures, and adorning the streets with opulent palaces. Around it all Constantine built new walls, truly impregnable, that preserved power, wealth, and withstood any aggressor--walls that still stand for tourists to visit.
From its ancient past to the present, we meet the city through its ordinary citizens--the Jews, Muslims, Italians, Greeks, and Russians who used the famous baths and walked the bazaars--and the rulers who built it up and then destroyed it, including Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the man who christened the city "Istanbul" in 1930. Thomas F. Madden's entertaining narrative brings to life the city we see today, including the rich splendor of the churches and monasteries that spread throughout the city.
Istanbul draws on a lifetime of study and the latest scholarship, transporting readers to a city of unparalleled importance and majesty that holds the key to understanding modern civilization. In the words of Napoleon Bonaparte, "If the Earth were a single state, Istanbul would be its capital."

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Maps (p. xii)
• Preface (p. xv)
• Part I Byzantian (667 BC-AD 330)
• Chapter 1 Across from the City of the Blind (p. 3)
• Chapter 2 Bread for Athens (p. 16)
• Chapter 3 Romans Bearing Gifts (p. 30)
• Chapter 4 Ruin and Survival (p. 44)
• Part II Byzantine Constantinople (330-1453)
• Chapter 5 Founding a New Rome (p. 61)
• Chapter 6 Baptized Capital (p. 76)
• Chapter 7 East of the Fall of Rome (p. 89)
• Chapter 8 City of Justinian (p. 103)
• Chapter 9 Surviving the Middle Ages (p. 119)
• Chapter 10 Byzantine Plots (p. 131)
• Chapter 11 Dining with Barbarians (p. 144)
• Chapter 12 Treasure and Treachery (p. 161)
• Chapter 13 Blind Men (p. 177)
• Chapter 14 Latin Occupation (p. 200)
• Chapter 15 Life Among the Ruins (p. 220)
• Chapter 16 Empire's End (p. 235)
• Part III Ottoman Constantinople (1453-1923)
• Chapter 17 The Spider's Curtain (p. 251)
• Chapter 18 City of Suleiman the Magnificent (p. 263)
• Chapter 19 The Sultanate of Women (p. 280)
• Chapter 20 Return of the West (p. 295)
• Chapter 21 Sick Man of Europe (p. 312)
• Chapter 22 Empire's End, Again (p. 327)
• Part IV Istanbul (1923-2016)
• Chapter 23 Becoming Modern (p. 341)
• Acknowledgments (p. 359)
• Notes (p. 361)
• Further Reading (p. 365)
• Index (p. 369)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Istanbul, which was established two millennia ago, has served as a crossroads and stood as a metropolis to many empires, including the Greeks, Romans, Italians, Armenians, Ottomans, and modern Turks, yet the city has always managed to maintain an aura all its own. Taking into account commerce, civic and religious thought and practice, history, and political power, Madden (Venice: A New History) offers insights into Istanbul's long history and ability to withstand threats from outside. The book's greatest strength is its perspective on how geography has played a role in the way the rest of the world views the region though Madden also delves into the life stories of notable men and women-among them Alexander the Great, Constantine, Empress Theodora, Mehmed the Conqueror, Suleiman the Magnificent, and Mustafa Kemal Ataturk-from the city's history. Edoardo Ballerini's reading enhances the text. -VERDICT A fascinating book about a fascinating city. ["Students of history and general readers alike will benefit from the...vignettes presented in this fascinating narrative": LJ 10/1/16 review of the Viking hc.]-Pam Kingsbury, Univ. of North Alabama, -Florence © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

In this fast-paced account of Europe's largest city, Madden (Venice: A New History), director of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at St. Louis University, recounts how Istanbul gained its status as "a meeting place and a battlefield for cultures." Founded by Greeks as Byzantium in 667 B.C.E., it served as a kind of urban bridge between Asia and Europe. As Constantinople, it became the eastern center of Christianity until it was conquered by the Ottomans in 1453. Thereafter, it was, until the modern period, a strikingly cosmopolitan place, about 40% non-Muslim in 1700, with significant populations of Greek Orthodox, Jews, and Armenian Christians. Madden adroitly describes the succession of the often bloodthirsty rulers of premodern Constantinople, including Murad III (who ordered the strangulation of his five brothers in 1574), as well as health crises, such as the bubonic plague epidemic of 542 that claimed an average of 5,000 lives per day. Unfortunately, Madden races through the city's modern period, from the Young Turks' 1909 uprising to the 21st century, including a mere paragraph on the anti-Greek riot of September 1955 that caused most of Istanbul's remaining Greeks to flee the city. This flaw aside, Madden succinctly captures the city's often key role in global political and religious history. (Dec.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

CHOICE Review

Madden (St. Louis Univ.; Venice: A New History, 2012) has attempted the impossible: writing a history of Istanbul in its various incarnations over two and a half millennia. Recognizing from the outset that a complete history was not possible, the author provides a general account from the founding of Byzantium to present-day Istanbul. Madden is a very eloquent writer whose flowing narrative of the wondrous history of this city will captivate readers. That being said, providing a highlight reel of major political events and architecture may satisfy the interests of casual readers, but it does not provide a true picture of the city. A real shortcoming of the book is its lack of attention to the city's residents. Throughout the Byzantine and Ottoman periods, the population saw many changes in terms of its composition and relationship with its rulers. Madden largely ignores this, especially during the late Ottoman period, making no mention of the impact of nationalist policies on non-Muslim residents. Though these shortcomings do not negate the book's overall value, they do limit this work to being a mere introduction to this great city. Summing Up: Recommended. General and public collections; undergraduates. --Robert W. Zens, Le Moyne College

Booklist Review

As he did in Venice (2012), Madden presents a vivid and, in this case, timely one-volume history of a legendary city, tracing the life of Istanbul from the days of the Greek settlers in 667 BC to the current Erdogan presidency. His focus is on the human stories of those who lived here, and this lends an immediacy to his chronicle of 25 centuries. Madden covers the early days of Ionian city-states through the time of Justinian's Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire to the era of Ataturk Mustafa Kemal, and he recounts the convention-defying love stories of Justinian and Theodora and Süleyman and Hürremas well as the history behind the Hagia Sophia. The land flanked by the Bosporus Strait and the Sea of Marmara, between Asia and Europe, has long been the site of conflicting allegiances, but it has survived and grown. Madden's insights into Istanbul's religious and political history reminds us that world politics is rife with complex questions: Who came first? Who built enduring cities? Who survived? Who vanished? And where do we go from here?--Viswanathan, Shoba Copyright 2016 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

The author of Venice: A New History (2012) returns with the astonishing and sanguinary story of the iconic city on the Bosporus.Madden (Director, Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies/St. Louis Univ.) begins by noting the obvious: no text can possibly contain the sprawling story of Istanbul. Undaunted, he begins in 667 B.C.E. and whisks us along through the centuries, ending with current times, still a city at the crossroads of the world. Dominating the text are tales of empire, war, commerce, and religious strife and wrenching accounts of brutality: ambitious family members murdering one another in the quest for power; invaders slaughtering others by the thousands, raping, looting, and sacking. Madden is fond of the city, however (he has been there numerous times), and generally reserves judgment as he soars along, only occasionally bogging down in detailed accounts of battles and internecine nastiness. He does spend time telling us about the design and construction of some buildings that remainand some that do not. We learn about the lack of urban design that characterized the city for centuries and its once-hopeless infrastructure; about the voice of Mark Twain saying that the city was best when viewed from a distance; and about customs occasioned by location and religion. (The author offers an enlightening section on harem life.) Madden, who prefers description and explication and narration to judgment and condemnation, explores the religious conflictse.g., the split between Christianity (East and West) and the rise of Islam. We also witness the extraordinary, even grotesque, lengths to which men have gone to achieve wealth and power. In our own day, Madden views the rise of nationalism as a new worry for the city, as well as the enduring religious conflicts that seem likely only to intensify. An illuminating journey through the history and culture of the metropolis that still towers over all other cities in Europe and the Middle East. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.