Lords of the Horizons

Book excerpt: “An elegantly written, thoroughly entertaining work of popular history” examining the Ottoman Empire and its legacy (Kirkus Reviews). For six hundred years, the Ottoman Empire swelled and declined. Islamic, martial, civilized, and tolerant, it advanced in three centuries from the dusty foothills of Anatolia to rule on the Danube and the Nile. At its height, Indian rajahs and the kings of France beseeched the empire’s aid. In its last three hundred years the empire seemed ready to collapse, a prodigy of survival and decay. In this striking evocation of the empire’s power, Jason Goodwin explores how the Ottomans rose and how, against all odds, they lingered on. In doing so, he also offers a long look back at the origins of problems that plague present-day Kosovars and Serbs. Praise for Lords of the Horizons “Jason Goodwin’s deftly written and beguiling history of the Ottoman Empire is particularly pertinent today, when the cauldron of ancient hatred once more boils over, but his prose would be welcome at any time.” —The Boston Globe “A work of dazzling beauty . . . the rare coming together of historical scholarship and curiosity about distant places with luminous writing.” —The New York Times Book Review