The Ottoman Empire ('In Brief' Books for Busy People)

Anne Davison does a surprisingly good job of conveying a lot of history in a concise but meaningful way. The book obviously leaves out a lot of detail but leaves you with the feeling that you understand at least the broad strokes of the history of this very important chapter in world / Middle Eastern / Turkish history.

As stated, it is "In Brief". Not a book to read if you desire an in depth dive into the Ottoman Empire. If you know little about the subject and want a quick overview this is a great book. Very easy to read and put together nicely by the author.

I wanted to get a general idea about the origins, rise and fall of the Ottoman Empire, this book provided me with just that in an easy to read text. I enjoyed reading it very much.

Excellent option for time constrained individuals interested in history without delving into superfluous minutiae or academic meanderings impeding understanding of and enhancing overall historical perspective of the period.

I learned a lot about the present Middle East situation by reading this book. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to understand the present tensions in the Middle East.

The book is an appetizer for deeper studying the history of that area. The links to today reality in a huge zone of the world are enlightening.

This is a very interseting book. Explains how the world got where we are. Full of history we di not learn in school

good summarised read on the life of the ottoman empire

Gives the busy reader a high level overview of the topic. Not everyone wants the minute detail. Having said this I had to put in some extra work to better understand some points plus it didn't provide me with all the answers I needed. I like the chapter conclusions these were helpful in revisting what you have understood. Like any history book thogh there will be times when you don't agree with the Author. I felt some of the language used was bias. A good little book though I have ordered another in the series.

A very entertaining book. As the title suggests, it is very high level though. It describes two or three major events in each century and the most important trends and characteristics of the empire from bird's eye view. As an economist I missed two things from this book. 1) it contains very few numbers. E.g. It would have been good to see how many people lived in the empire? How big were the cities? How did the overall size of the military compare to say the Spanish forces? Etc. 2) I also missed an explanation of what brought the eventual economic decline of this empire?

Thoroughly enjoyed this book, very informative, detailed information about the ottoman period and the consequences from its demise. Now having an understanding of the ottoman empire I'm hoping the author has a follow up publication about 1920's onwards impact on these countries with further explanation.

An informative book written in an accessible style. The conclusions at the end of each chapter help the reader consolidate information. The punctuation oversights are slightly irritating, most notably the almost complete omission of the mandatory commas in non-defining relative clauses. Doesn't anyone employ these nowadays? Their omission can compromise meaning.

Concise, readable - a really useful book about a complex and obscure history. Puts the modern Balkans, Turkey and the Levant in context.