1453

The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West

By: Roger Crowley

Narrated by: Simon Prebble

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 comprehensive account of the battle between Mehmet 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 conflict between the West and the Middle East.

For a thousand years Constantinople was quite simply "the city": fabulously wealthy, imperial, intimidating—and Christian. Singlehandedly it blunted early Arab enthusiasm for Holy War. When a second wave of Islamic warriors swept out of the Asian steppes in the Middle Ages, Constantinople was the ultimate prize: "The Red Apple." It was a city that had always lived under threat. On average it had survived a siege every forty years for a millennium—until the Ottoman Sultan, Mehmet II, twenty-one years old and hungry for glory, rode up to the walls in April 1453 with a huge army, "numberless as the stars."

1453 is the taut, vivid story of this final struggle for the city, told largely through the accounts of eyewitnesses. For fifty-five days a tiny group of defenders defied the huge Ottoman army in a seesawing contest fought on land, at sea, and underground. 1453 is both a gripping work of narrative history and an account of the war between Christendom and Islam that still has echoes in the modern world.

Great story

Roger Crowley is a master storyteller, and Simon Prebble gives a wonderful reading of this epic account of the siege of Constantinople. Crowley's book conveys the grand sweep of events while including the kind of detail that makes the story vivid and memorable. For Mehmed II, it was a stunning victory; for Constantine XI, death and disappearance from history. (His body was never recovered from the carnage of the last assault.) I could almost feel the impact of the gigantic stone cannonballs as they pounded the ancient wall that protected the city.

Excellent account

Excellent account Superbly read. Immerses one in the struggle and fight for doomed Constantinople as the last remnant of the Roman Empire.

worth the listen

Well written, kept me listening, good flow of information. great unbias history lesson
narration was excellent

Simon has a fantastic talent for narration.

Narration can make or break a book, especially in books heavy on dates and names. Simon delivers a perfectly balanced performance that is not overly dramatized, nor dry.

The book itself is fascinating. I did not notice any particularly heavy biases in the depictions, as the author gave specific attentention to opposing extremes as well as consensus views of each subject.

Ample attention is paid to explanations of source materials.

would highly recommend this book to anyone, like myself, who just want's to know history.

Highly recommend

Detailed explanations of the events of that time, without being very boring which is very hard.
Very good narration as well.
I like the fact it provides views from different sides for the same event to avoid bias or incorrect facts