Roger Crowley Livres

One of the most gripping and exciting stories ever told of an epic period of international warfare, now beautifully repackaged.

Set against the backdrop of the 1521 invasion of Rhodes by Suleiman the Magnificent, this gripping narrative explores the fierce conflict between the Ottoman Empire and Christian forces for dominance in the Mediterranean. Roger Crowley vividly portrays a diverse array of characters, including pirates and religious warriors, as they engage in brutal galley warfare and face the harsh realities of slavery and violence. The book offers a riveting account of this historical struggle, illuminating themes of faith, power, and the ongoing clash of civilizations.

As remarkable as Columbus and the conquistador expeditions, the history of Portuguese exploration is now almost forgotten. This title tells an epic tale of navigation, trade and technology, money and religious zealotry, political diplomacy and espionage, sea battles and shipwrecks, endurance, courage and terrifying brutality.

Now in trade paperback, a gripping exploration of the fall of Constantinople and its connection to the world we live in today The fall of Constantinople in 1453 signaled a shift in history, and the end of the Byzantium Empire. Roger Crowley's readable and comprehensive account of the battle between Mehmed II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and Constantine XI, the 57th emperor of Byzantium, illuminates the period in history that was a precursor to the current jihad between the West and the Middle East.

Constantinople is narrative history at its very best: an intense, extraordinary tale of courage and cruelty, technological ingenuity, endurance and luck.

The story of the emergence of Portugal, a small, poor nation that enjoyed a century of maritime supremacy thanks to the daring and navigational skill of its explorers -- a tactical advantage no other country could match. Portugal's discovery of a sea route to India, campaign of imperial conquest over Muslim rulers, and domination of the spice trade would forever disrupt the Mediterranean and build the first global economy. Author Crowley relies on letters and eyewitness testimony to tell the story of tiny Portugal's rapid rise to power. Conquerors reveals the Império Português in all of its splendor and ferocity. Figures such as King Manuel "the Fortunate," João II "the Perfect Prince," marauding governor Afonso de Albuquerque, and explorer Vasco da Gama juggled their private ambitions and the public aims of the empire in pursuit of a global fortune. Also central to the story was Portugal's drive to eradicate Islamic culture and establish a Christian empire in the Indian Ocean. Portuguese explorers pushed deep into the African continent and ruthlessly besieged Indian port cities. The discovery of a route to India around the horn of Africa was not only a brilliant breakthrough in navigation but heralded a complete upset of the world order. For the next century, no European empire was more ambitious, no rulers more rapacious. In the process they created the first long-range maritime empire and set in motion the forces of globalization that now shape our world

A magisterial work of gripping history, City of Fortune tells the story of the Venetian ascent from lagoon dwellers to the greatest power in the Mediterranean - an epic five hundred year voyage that encompassed crusade and trade, plague, sea battles and colonial adventure.

"As remarkable as Columbus and the conquistador expeditions, the history of Portuguese exploration is now almost forgotten. But Portugal's navigators cracked the code of the Atlantic winds, launched the expedition of Vasco da Gama to India and beat the Spanish to the spice kingdoms of the East - then set about creating the first long-range maritime empire. In an astonishing blitz of thirty years, a handful of visionary and utterly ruthless empire builders, with few resources but breathtaking ambition, attempted to seize the Indian Ocean, destroy Islam and take control of world trade. This is an epic tale of navigation, trade and technology, money and religious zealotry, political diplomacy and espionage, sea battles and shipwrecks, endurance, courage and terrifying brutality. Drawing on extensive first-hand accounts, it brings to life the exploits of an extraordinary band of conquerors - men such as Afonso de Albuquerque, the first European since Alexander the Great to found an Asian empire - who set in motion five hundred years of European colonisation and unleashed the forces of globalisation." --Publisher description.

A comprehensive account of the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 examines the end of the Byzantine Empire and the medieval era, and the implications of the siege for the relationship between the West and Islam.

A thrilling history of the dramatic siege of Acre in 1291, the bloody climax to the two hundred years of the Holy Land Crusades