Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities

by Bettany Hughes

Overview

Istanbul has long been a place where stories and histories collide, where perception is as potent as fact.

From the Koran to Shakespeare, this city with three names--Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul -- resonates as an idea and a place, real and imagined. Standing as the gateway between East and West, North and South, it has been the capital city of the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman Empires. For much of its history it was the very center of the world, known simply as "The City," but, as Bettany Hughes reveals, Istanbul is not just a city, but a global story.

In this epic new biography, Hughes takes us on a dazzling historical journey from the Neolithic to the present, through the many incarnations of one of the world's greatest cities--exploring the ways that Istanbul's influence has spun out to shape the wider world. Hughes investigates what it takes to make a city and tells the story not just of emperors, viziers, caliphs, and sultans, but of the poor and the voiceless, of the women and men whose aspirations and dreams have continuously reinvented Istanbul.

Written with energy and animation, award-winning historian Bettany Hughes deftly guides readers through Istanbul's rich layers of history. Based on meticulous research and new archaeological evidence, this captivating portrait of the momentous life of Istanbul is visceral, immediate, and authoritative -- narrative history at its finest.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780306825859
Publisher:	Hachette Books
Publication date:	09/19/2017
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	194,925
File size:	107 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Bettany Hughes is an award-winning historian, author, and broadcaster. She is currently professor of history at the New College of the Humanities and a research fellow of King's College, London. She is the author of three popular books, including the New York Times-bestselling The Hemlock Cup. She lives in London.

Editorial Reviews

…written with a classicist's linguistic precision…Hughes's book begins with the prehistoric substrata, delving with curiously gripping detail into layers of settlement archaeologists have only recently unearthed…She has a fine feel for the complexities and shadings of that distant past…Hughes's tone is both scholarly and rich in visual detail…

The New York Times Book Review - Lawrence Osborne

"[An] informed and energetic account of one of the world's great metropolises...A colorful, popularized narrative history that covers a lot of ground...Informative and never boring...[A] fascinating story. And [Hughes] tells it well."--Washington Times

"[A] majestic and immensely enriching narration of history...A journey through conquest and greatness from Roman to Ottoman times and it reminded me of why I love the city."--Financial Times (?Best Books of 2017: Critics? Picks?)

"[A] marvelous new book...[by] one of Britain's most successful television historians...[An] ambitious enterprise...Vivid and readable prose...[A] wonderful evocation of Istanbul's glittering past."

--Wall Street Journal

"A deeply researched biography of a legendary city...A panoramic cultural history of a fascinating place."
--Kirkus Reviews

"A sprawling one-volume survey of the history of one of the world's most consequential cities, Bettany Hughes' Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities, like its subject, captivates from beginning to end. Written with verve and color, its short, easily digestibly chapters pulse with the author's enthusiasm. For anyone who has traveled to what was once Constantinople and Byzantion/Byzantium, Hughes' artful marshaling of archeology, literature, and cultural history offers a fascinating portrait of this city at the nexus of East and West...To the reader who hasn't visited The World's Desire, the book is likely to stir hopes of a pilgrimage one day...Hughes has the knack of assembling wide-ranging detail with the focus needed to sustain a narrative of such sweep...The writing shines."
--Blogcritics

"A vibrant, sprawling portrait of a city as enigmatic as it is historically important...Hughes' entertaining narrative style with its visual details, dramatic archaeological discoveries, and cliffhanger chapter endings allows her erudition and exuberance to shine."
--Booklist (starred review)

"Be prepared to learn...The maps included are numerous and depict everything from the city itself, its defenses, growth, locations of important temples, building and churches to the wider Mediterranean world and the extent of respective empires. They are extremely helpful, detailed, and informative"--New York Journal of Books

"Brimming with brio and incident...life-filled and life-affirming history, steeped in romance and written with verve"--Justin Marozzi, award-winning author of Baghdad


"Curiously gripping...[Hughes] establishes just how deep the Greek roots of the settlement called Byzantion went...She has a fine feel for the complexities and shadings of that distant past...Hughes's tone is both scholarly and rich in visual detail...Show[s] how intricate and improbable Istanbul's history has been."--New York Times Book Review

"Groundbreaking...a colossal undertaking...a notable achievement"--Roger Crowley, bestselling author of 1453


"Hughes demonstrates a passionate and keen eye for detail in her newest book covering the history of Istanbul from its classical origins to the modern era. Despite its heft...this work is eminently readable and thorough...A timely work, given current events, and a powerful testimony to Istanbul's impact on culture, society, and religion over time. Historians and lay readers alike will find this a welcome addition."
--Library Journal

"Hughes is not an argumentative historian. She avoids the debates of academe. She is a wistful and impassioned cosmopolitan who has produced a challenging story."--Financial Times

"Hughes wonderfully tells the story of a city that has been many things at many different times...[A] terrifically rewarding new book...In sure, gripping prose, the story moves steadily forward through violent clashes between Christian and Turkish forces vying for this city...It's a spellbinding performance from start to finish...Gorgeously-written."--Christian Science Monitor

"Impressive. In Istanbul, Hughes plays intriguing, sophisticated games with time and space.... By making unlikely connections between well-described locations and events separated by eons, she gives voice to those witchy, diachronic feelings in a spectacular fashion."--The Economist

"In her beautifully written account, British historian Bettany Hughes capably juggles telling anecdotes and historic milestones from across the centuries."
--Milwaukee Shepherd-Express

"Mesmerizing... Weaves research and insight with understanding and love: here is a book written as much with the heart as the mind."--Elif Shafak, award-winning author of The Bastard of Istanbul


"Packs the story of its three iterations-Byzantium, Constantinople and Istanbul-into one volume, from its earliest settlement in 6000 BC, to the 20th century. Though it sweeps across eight millennia, this glinting mosaic of a book is divided up into short episodic tesserae that evoke vivid aspects of the city's history and demonstrate the long reach of it influence."

--The Bookseller

"Richly entertaining and impeccably researched. Hughes's ebullient book is an ode to three incarnations of the city."--Peter Frankopan, author of the international bestseller The Silk Roads


"Shows readers how a prehistoric settlement evolved through the centuries into a great metropolis, the crossroads where East meets West."--New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice)

"The always engaging Bettany Hughes has written [an] electrifying book on Istanbul...In the many well-done portraits of a variety of figures-from prominent emperors and empresses to stylites, eunuchs, knights, medics, and janissaries-she goes beyond just the biography and facts and often imparts some of the relevance of their actions and ideas...There is relatively little in the history of Istanbul that one won't find in this book...Thorough, informative, and well researched...Upon closing the book's cover a reader will have received a rich and in-depth experience of this grand city...Hughes's zest, knowledge, and nearly lifelong interest in this city shows itself on every page."--PopMatters

"The book is cleverly organized around descriptions of various artifacts from Roman times that have been uncovered in the recent digging...Hughes has a gift for collapsing detail gracefully."--New York Review of Books

"The book offers a readable tour of it all from the prehistoric to the Erdogan government and the attempted coup of 2016...Highly recommended."--Choice

"The information that is presented is excellent."--San Francisco Book Review

"The kind of history that rewards existing knowledge while functioning perfectly well for the reader who brings little in the way of previous experience of the ancient world to the book. The pages are dense with information yet the work is never overbearing; you finish every chapter feeling smarter and, even more importantly, newly curious."
--The Awl

"The strength of this particular account lies in Hughes' focus on the totality of the city's inhabitants, not just the powerful ones. She introduces the reader to emperors and sultans, but also to slaves and refugees. She gives emphasis to the roles women played in the city over time...The result is a more complete presentation of the city's history...Hughes' conversational tone makes the book extremely approachable, regardless of one's familiarity with the city. Peeling back layers of time and fantasy, she shows us why this city is such an integral part of humanity's story."--Washington Independent Review of Books

undefined--"10 Best Books of September, ? Christian Science Monitor

From the Publisher

08/01/2017
Author, filmmaker, and documentarian Hughes (Helen of Troy; The Hemlock Cup) demonstrates a passionate and keen eye for detail in her newest book covering the history of Istanbul from its classical origins to the modern era. Despite its heft and tendency to delve into so much nuance that even the diet of Constantinople's citizens in the late 900s CE is shared, this work is eminently readable and thorough. Hughes balances especially well a study of one city with the commentary of greater time periods and historic events taking place simultaneously around the world; the rich, cultural, religious, and social presence of Istanbul's complex tale lends itself as an excellent focus. VERDICT A timely work, given current events, and a powerful testimony to Istanbul's impact on culture, society, and religion over time. Historians and lay readers alike will find this a welcome addition.—Elizabeth Zeitz, Otterbein Univ. Lib., Westerville, OH

Library Journal

Whether you call it Byzantium, Constantinople, or Istanbul, the city that straddles Europe and Asia has a long and storied past. Author/narrator Bettany Hughes hits every high point and tiny detail of that story. She has created and narrated several BBC documentaries, experiences that serve her well in this project. Her writing has a personality all its own, and her lively, emotive reading highlights her scholarship, her passion for her subject, and her agile way with the English language. Her fluid voice does, however, occasionally dip into a low register, making the ends of some sentences less than clear. But given the book’s 24-hour span, these are minor deficits. C.M.A. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

MARCH 2018 - AudioFile

Whether you call it Byzantium, Constantinople, or Istanbul, the city that straddles Europe and Asia has a long and storied past. Author/narrator Bettany Hughes hits every high point and tiny detail of that story. She has created and narrated several BBC documentaries, experiences that serve her well in this project. Her writing has a personality all its own, and her lively, emotive reading highlights her scholarship, her passion for her subject, and her agile way with the English language. Her fluid voice does, however, occasionally dip into a low register, making the ends of some sentences less than clear. But given the book’s 24-hour span, these are minor deficits. C.M.A. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

MARCH 2018 - AudioFile

★ 2017-06-27
A deeply researched biography of a legendary city, beginning in prehistory.For the past four decades, historian and documentary filmmaker Hughes (Research Fellow/King's Coll. London; The Hemlock Cup: Socrates, Athens, and the Search for the Good Life, 2011, etc.) has had what she calls "a love affair" with Istanbul. Her fascination with the city inspired prodigious research as well as travels throughout the Arab world, Central Asia, and Europe as she engaged in "an archaeology of both place and culture" to chronicle the city's evolution from Byzantium to Constantinople to Istanbul. Located on the Bosporus, the strait dividing Asia and Europe, in each iteration the city was the center of a coveted trade route, a strategic geopolitical nexus, and a religious mecca for "the world's most tenacious theocracies," most notably Sunni Islam. Hughes argues that the city's development was fueled not only by commercial and political motivations, but also by humans' "fundamental desire to share ideas." Religion was prominent among those ideas: in the seventh century, "stakes in the religious game were being raised," and tolerance among Jews, Christians, and Muslims broke down. Soon, leaders in Muslim territories and Christians in Constantinople engaged in "wars of propaganda and faith." Power was another idea: commerce in the city included the trade in humans, both as sex slaves and to provide labor after devastating population loss caused by the Black Death in the 14th century. The slave trade flourished, with women "particularly active as dealers." Many slaves became farm laborers, and the most appealing male and female slaves were pressed into household or harem service. The harem, meaning "sanctuary," became a site where dynasties and alliances were nurtured. Hughes vividly details both the reality of the harem and its fantastical rendering by Western writers as a place of wonder, licentiousness, and sexual desire. The author's history teems with individuals and events, sometimes overwhelming her usually lively narrative, especially once she focuses on the Ottoman Empire and its roiling succession of rulers. A panoramic cultural history of a fascinating place.

Kirkus Reviews