ISTANBUL: CITY OF MAJESTY AT THE CROSSROADS OF THE WORLD by Thomas F. Madden
Istanbul: City of Majesty at the Crossroads of the World by Thomas F. Madden
Perched at the tip of Europe, gazing across to the shores of Asia, Istanbul remains as much a city of crossroads as it has been for the past two millennia. The history of this fabled metropolis -- known at first as Byzantion, then Constantinople, and now Istanbul -- is at once glorious, grandiose, and astounding. No other city has stood at the center of world events for so long, a home to great empires and diverse cultures from the Greeks to the Romans, the Italians to the Armenians, the Ottomans to the modern Turks. Prizewinning historian Thomas F. Madden's tremendous new biography of this mysterious city captures centuries of triumph and defeat, riches and poverty, seen through the lives of those who inhabited it: the emperors and empresses, craftsmen and architects, sailors and fishermen, street vendors and harem concubines.
ISTANBUL propels the reader on a journey of Mediterranean commerce, thought, religion, and power, running through ancient roads, wharfs, forums, and palaces. Excavating centuries of firsthand accounts, Madden sets this history against the background of men and women who forever changed their worlds, including Alexander the Great, Constantine, Empress Theodora, Mehmed the Conqueror, Suleiman the Magnificent, and Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Witness the construction of the massive Theodosian Walls, the embellishment of rich Hagia Sophia, and the transformation and revitalization of the Golden Horn district. From 667 BC to President Erdogan's tumultuous twenty-first-century presidency, Madden's account not only questions how we think of Istanbul's past, but also examines what we can learn from a people who have withstood invasion and threat from outside and from within time and time again.
Through the long gaze of Madden's stirring narrative, we experience the strength of a people who endure at the intersection of faith, geography, and ideology.
Viking Press, Hardcover, 1st Edition, 1st Printing, 2016, 381 pages
THIS IS A BRAND NEW BOOK. THERE IS A RED "CLOSEOUT/REMAINDER" MARK ON THE BOTTOM PAGE EDGES.