CANR
WORK TITLE: Spice
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.rogercrowley.co.uk/
CITY: Gloucestershire
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY: British
LAST VOLUME: CANR 316
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born June 28, 1951; married.
EDUCATION:Attended Cambridge University.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and publisher. Speaker on Mediterranean subjects on BBC-TV program In Our Time and at the Center for Naval Analyses, Washington, DC. Also taught English in Turkey.
AWARDS:Eric Gregory Award for poetry, Society of Authors; History Book of the Year, Sunday Times, 2009, for Empires of the Sea.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Gloucestershire-based writer Roger Crowley is the author of 1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West (titled Constantinople: The Last Great Siege, 1453 in England) and Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World (titled Empires of the Sea: The Final Battle for the Mediterranean, 1521-1580 in England), works that examine the Turkish Empire at the height of its power. From the sixteenth century into the twentieth century, the sultan based at Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) was a feared figure around the world, influencing the lives of millions from Eastern Europe to West Asia to North Africa.
1453 discusses the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks under Sultan Mehmet II. The capture of the city marked the end of the Byzantine Empire (the successor state to the eastern Roman Empire, which dated back into antiquity). It also interrupted ancient trade routes between Europe and East Asia and inspired the Portuguese and the Spanish to look for seaborne routes to reach the treasures of India and China. Empires of the Sea is set about 120 years later and looks at the ways the western expansion of the Ottomans was blocked first on the island of Malta, and then by the combined Spanish and Austrian fleets at the naval battle of Lepanto in 1571.
Crowley’s interest in the Mediterranean world comes from his childhood, spent on navy stations in the area. After leaving Cambridge University he returned to the Mediterranean, spending some time teaching English in Istanbul and roaming through Anatolia. He then returned to England, found a job in publishing, married, and settled in the Cotswold area of Gloucestershire. “In recent years,” explained a contributor to Crowley’s home page, “he has made return trips to the Greek-speaking world, including two visits to Mount Athos, spiritual home of the Byzantine tradition.”
One of Crowley’s themes in both books is questioning the idea that modern Christianity and Islam are locked in a millennial struggle for the domination of the world. That idea is not new to the twenty-first century. 1453 is in part an exploration of the concept of the “struggle of civilizations” in a fifteenth-century context. The last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI, died in the siege of the city, “charg[ing] hopeless, defiant and screaming into the Ottoman masses. He was never seen again,” explained Charles Foster in the Contemporary Review. “More than a city fell that day. Some say the Middle Ages ended then, and Constantine saw himself as the last of the Romans.” The siege of Constantinople was an example of how new technology could be used to undermine traditional ideas of warfare; the Ottomans had new gunpowder technology and used their cannon to batter down the walls that had protected the city for a thousand years. “Europe mourned the loss of the Eastern Empire, which ushered in two centuries of Islamic warfare on European soil,” stated a Kirkus Reviews contributor. At the same time, noted a Publishers Weekly reviewer, “Mehmet turned the city into one where religious toleration and multiculturalism flourished”—something that had not been the case under the Byzantine rulers. “Roger Crowley’s account of this siege is an extraordinary blend of true scholarship and rare storytelling skill. If all history were written like this John Grisham would be destitute,” Foster remarked. “Mr. Crowley navigates the tricky waters of Byzantine and Ottoman politics with the confidence that comes only from real understanding.” 1453, the Kirkus Reviews contributor concluded, is a “swiftly paced, useful guide to understanding the long enmity between Islam and Christianity.”
In Empires of the Sea, declared a Kirkus Reviews contributor, “Crowley picks up where he left off in 1453, ” exploring the story of the Ottoman Turks’ further advance into Western Europe. Toward the end of the sixteenth century the Ottomans’ attempts to extend their power in the Mediterranean—led by the most powerful and charismatic of their sultans, Suleiman I, and his successors—were stymied by a coalition of Christian powers under Don Juan of Austria. Some 40,000 individuals died at the battle of Lepanto, which is credited with slowing the Ottoman advance, making it the bloodiest battle in history up to that time. The Ottomans continued to invade Europe until well into the seventeenth century, but Lepanto marked the end of Mediterranean operations as the primary theater of European wars. “Crowley takes special pains to ensure his readers know that things could have gone differently, that the real significance of the event remained shrouded at the time,” wrote John T. Kuehn in the Military Review. “In doing so, he captures for the reader the contingent and even tragic nature of those times.”
In 2011 Crowley published City of Fortune: How Venice Ruled the Seas, which was also published as City of Fortune: How Venice Won and Lost a Naval Empire. The account centers on the military successes of the Venetian Empire during its peak. Crowley shows how Venice was spared a Barbarian invasion and persevered under Byzantine rule until it played a key role in launching the Crusades. From there on, it continued to grow, adding new territories to its mercantile empire to gain control over the Mediterranean and Black Seas.
Reviewing the book in the London Guardian, P.D. Smith remarked that “Crowley’s vivid history provides a gripping account of how the Republic came to dominate the eastern Mediterranean.” Writing in the New York Times Book Review, Nigel Cliff claimed that the author “has a fine eye for a set piece. He writes with a racy briskness that lifts sea battles and sieges off the page, so much so that at times his sentences seem in danger of bursting their seams. In between, despite occasional slips … he gives judicious, detailed accounts of Venice’s legal system and colonial policies.” Writing in the Washington Independent Review of Books, Alice Padwe remarked: “ City of Fortune tells a gripping story. You may be repelled by descriptions of some of the barbarous practices of Venice and her foes, you may agree with the popes who castigated the city for its focus on worldly gain, but you can’t help admiring her efficiency and daring. Keep turning the pages—it’s well worth following the tale.” A Kirkus Reviews contributor described the book as “an action-packed political and military history that will remind readers of the Italian sea power that prevailed for centuries before Western European nations” propagated.
In Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire, Crowley describes a 1479 meeting between leaders of Portugal and Spain, during which the delegates divided the globe in half and gave one piece to each country to colonize. Portugal’s brutal group of explorers gained territory in India and Africa, often terrorizing their colonies’ inhabitants. Crowley profiles Portuguese conquerors, including Vasco de Gama, Francisco de Almeida, and Afonso de Albuquerque.
Jerry Brotton, a contributor to the London Telegraph Web site, commented: “Readers of Crowley’s previous books will not be disappointed by this exciting tale of sea battles, land campaigns and shipwrecks. But this virtue in a narrative history can also be a vice: the book soon settles into a pacy but predictable saga of one bloody battle after another.” Brotton added: “Crowley makes a good case for reclaiming Portugal’s significance as forger of the first global empire. But the best global history can surely manage to situate vivid characters within the larger, if more routine, forces of bureaucracy and state administration. Here, we only get one side of the story, and only one half of an empire.” Writing on the New York Times Book Review Web site, Ian Morris suggested: “In Conquerors, Roger Crowley tells the story with style. It is a classic ripping yarn, packed with excitement, violence, and cliffhangers. Its larger-than-life characters are at once extraordinary and repulsive, at one moment imagining the world in entirely new ways and at the next braying with delight over massacring entire cities.” “In Conquerors, Roger Crowley delivers a rousing and masterful account of how a handful of determined adventurers—at once ruthless and visionary—carved out the first truly global commercial empire, for better and for worse,” remarked Aram Bakshian, Jr., on the Washington Times Web site. Library Journal critic Laura Hiatt-Smith stated: “This chronicle will be of interest to history buffs and … those who appreciate accounts of naval battles.” A contributor to Publishers Weekly described the book as “perfect for anyone who likes a high seas tale.” A Kirkus Reviews writer called it “an impressive history of global clashes, religious zealotry, and economic triumph.”
(open new)Crowley examines the 1291 siege of Acre in Accursed Tower: The Crusaders’ Last Battle for the Holy Land. In the book, he provides historical context for the siege, noting that Acre, located in present-day Israel and also known as Akko, was considered a strategic stronghold in the Middle East. Its position on the Mediterranean made it a coveted property for centuries. It was captured during conflicts in 636, 1104, and 1187 as Muslims battled Christians in the region. Its longest battle lasted from 1189 to 1191, when Muslims and Christians fought for 683 days and ended at a tower than came to be known as the Accursed Tower. Exactly 100 years after the Muslims were defeated in the grueling battle, they returned to Acre to retake the city from the Christians. Key in the offensive were the Mamluks, Turkish fighters who had been enslaved. With the Mamluks’ weapons and skills, the Muslims overtook Acre within weeks. A Kirkus Reviews critic described the book as “a bracing work by a masterly historian whose great knowledge portrays the ‘dramatic symbolic significance’ of this landmark event.” A contributor to Wisconsin Bookwatch called it “an extraordinary work of historical scholarship and certain to be an enduringly popular addition to both community and academic library history collections.” “Crowley’s narrative carries the reader along swiftly, not concealing the bloodshed or pulling his punches. He succeeds in bringing this complex series of events convincingly to life,” asserted Helen J. Nicholson in TLS: Times Literary Supplement.
Spice: The Sixteenth-Century Contest That Shaped the Modern World finds Crowley sharing the history of the spice trade, focusing on its height in the 1500s. During this colonial era, European explorers sought to make claims to land and resources in faraway places. Spain and Portugal were among the most prolific colonizers and began bringing spices back from Southeast Asia, primarily from Indonesia. In Europe, demand for nutmeg, mace, and cloves exploded, incentivizing merchants to begin making voyages to bring them to market. Through the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, Portugal and Spain divided Southeast Asia between themselves and launched trade routes from Asia to Europe. The resources that the European countries took from Asia changed their fortunes, cuisines, and cultures. A writer in MoneyWeek commented: “The book is well written and gives the reader a sense of what it is must have been like to sail into unknown territory.” “Crowley has the knack of turning fragments into a mosaic, and his latest book is another colorful, sweeping saga,” asserted a Kirkus Reviews critic. A contributor to the Economist described the volume as “an engaging new look at seasoning’s long ago seasons.”(close new)
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
American Spectator, December 1, 2005, Brandon Crocker, review of 1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West, p. 72.
Booklist, July 1, 2008, Jay Freeman, review of Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World, p. 30.
Contemporary Review, September 22, 2006, Charles Foster, “The Fall of Constantinople and the End of Empire,” p. 379.
Economist, May 22, 2024, “Spices Have Their Own Riveting, Piquant History,” review of Spice: The Sixteenth-Century Contest That Shaped the Modern World.
Guardian (London, England), July 24, 2012, P.D. Smith, review of City of Fortune: How Venice Won and Lost a Naval Empire.
Independent (London, England), September 9, 2011, Boyd Tonkin, review of City of Fortune.
Journal of Military History, January, 2009, John F. Guilmartin, Jr., review of Empires of the Sea, pp. 263-264.
Kirkus Reviews, June 1, 2005, review of 1453, p. 620; May 1, 2008, review of Empires of the Sea; November 15, 2011, review of City of Fortune; September 1, 2015, review of Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire; October 1, 2019, review of Accursed Tower: The Crusaders’ Last Battle for the Holy Land; June 1, 2024, review of Spice.
Library Journal, October 15, 2015, Laura Hiatt-Smith, review of Conquerors, p. 100.
Military History, August 1, 2005, Thomas Zacharis, “The Last Siege of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks Drew the Line between East and West,” p. 62.
Military Review, September 1, 2008, John T. Kuehn, review of Empires of the Sea, p. 117.
MoneyWeek, June 7, 2024, review of Spice, p. 44.
New York Times Book Review, January 27, 2012, Nigel Cliff, review of City of Fortune.
Publishers Weekly, June 13, 2005, review of 1453, p. 44; May 5, 2008, review of Empires of the Sea, p. 53; October 12, 2015, review of Conquerors, p. 58.
Tampa Tribune, July 20, 2008, “Thrilling Account of Brutal 50-Year Christian-Muslim War,” p. 10.
TLS: Times Literary Supplement, March 17, 2006, Chirstine Woodhead, “To Our Italian Allies,” p. 25; December 6, 2019, Helen J. Nicholson, review of Accursed Tower, p. 39.
Wall Street Journal, July 21, 2008, John Julius Norwich, “When Worlds Collide: Empires of the Sea, by Roger Crowley,” p. A11.
Wisconsin Bookwatch, February, 2020, review of Accursed Tower.
ONLINE
Andrew Lownie Literary Agency website, http://www.andrewlownie.co.uk/ (July 10, 2024), author profile.
Kevin Holtsberry Dot Com, http://kevinholtsberry.com/ (May 13, 2009), review of Empires of the Sea.
New York Times Book Review Online, http://www.nytimes.com/ (January 15, 2016), Ian Morris, review of Conquerors.
Random House website, http://www.randomhouse.com/ (May 13, 2009), author profile.
Roger Crowley blog, http://rogercrowley.blogspot.com/ (August 2, 2016).
Roger Crowley website, http://www.rogercrowley.co.uk (July 10, 2024).
Telegraph Online, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ (November 10, 2015), Jerry Brotton, review of Conquerors.
Washington Independent Review of Books, http://www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/ (October 3, 2012), Alice Padwe, review of City of Fortune.
Washington Times Online, http://www.washingtontimes.com/ (February 21, 2016), Aram Bakshian, Jr., review of Conquerors.*
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Roger Crowley
Born 1951
Occupation Historian
Alma mater Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge
Period 2005–present
Genre Maritime and Mediterranean history
Roger Crowley (born 1951[1]) is a British historian and author known for his books on maritime and Mediterranean history.[2]
Life and career
Roger Crowley was educated at Sherborne School and read English at Emmanuel College Cambridge. As the child of a naval family, early experiences of life in Malta gave him a deep interest in the history and culture of the Mediterranean world, which has remained the major subject of his work. He has travelled widely in the Greek-speaking world, taught English in Istanbul and walked across Western Turkey. He worked for many years as a publisher before pursuing a full-time writing career. He is married and lives in England in the Gloucestershire countryside.[3]
He has a reputation for writing compelling narrative history based on original sources and eyewitness accounts combined with careful scholarship. He is the author of a loose trilogy of books on the history of the Mediterranean: Constantinople: The Last Great Siege/1453 (2005), drawing on his interest in Istanbul, Empires of the Sea (2008) about the contest for the Mediterranean between the Ottomans and Christian Europe, which was a Sunday Times (UK) History Book of the Year in 2009 and a New York Times Bestseller – and City of Fortune on Venice’s maritime empire (2011).[4] These were followed by Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire (2015), an account of early Portuguese activities in the Indian Ocean. His latest book, Accursed Tower: The Crusaders' Last Battle for the Holy Land (Yale, 2019) chronicles the end of the crusades and the fall of Akko in 1291. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages.[5]
Roger has talked to audiences as diverse as Melvyn Bragg’s BBC programme In Our Time, the Center Analyses in Washington, NATO, the Hay Festival, and the National Maritime Museum, appeared on TV programmes, written articles and reviews, and lectured to tour groups.[6]
Bibliography
"The First Global Empire" History Today (2015) 656#10 pp 10–17 online
Books
1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West. New York: Hachette Books, 2005.(US edition) ISBN 9781401308506 [7]
Great Constantinople: The Last Siege. London: Faber, 2005.(UK edition) ISBN 9780571298204[8]
Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World. New York: Random House, 2008. (US edition) ISBN 9780812977646 [9] (UK edition) London: Faber, 2008. ISBN 9780571298198[10]
City of Fortune: How Venice Ruled the Seas. New York: Random House, 2012. (US edition) ISBN 9780812980226[11] (UK edition) London: Faber, 2012. ISBN 9780571245956[12]
Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire. New York: Random House, 2015. ISBN 9780812994001[13][14][15] (UK edition) London: Faber, 2015. ISBN 9780571290901 [16]
Accursed Tower: The Crusaders' Last Battle for the Holy Land. London: Yale University Press, 2019 (UK edition) ISBN 9780300230314 [17] (US edition) Basic Books, 2019. ISBN 9781541697348[18]
Roger Crowley is a best-selling narrative historian with deep interests in the Mediterranean world and its surrounding area. At Emmanuel College, Cambridge he read English but has gone on to build a reputation for writing page-turning history based on original sources and careful scholarship.
He is the author of a loose trilogy of books on the Mediterranean: Constantinople: The Last Great Siege/1453 (2005), Empires of the Sea (2008) – a Sunday Times (UK) History Book of the Year in 2009 and a New York Times Bestseller – and City of Fortune on Venice (2011), as well as Conquerors (2015), a rare break out into the Atlantic with the Portuguese. His latest book Accursed Tower explores the end of the Holy Land crusades. His books have been translated into many languages.
He has talked to audiences as diverse as Melvin Bragg’s BBC programme In Our Time, the Center for Naval Analyses in Washington, NATO, the Hay Festival and the National Maritime Museum, appeared on TV programmes, written articles and reviews, and travelled as far as China to give lectures. He is married and lives in England in the Gloucestershire countryside.
Roger Crowley Biography
Roger Crowley was born in 1951 and educated at Cambridge University. As the child of a naval family, early experiences of life in Malta gave him a deep interest in the history and culture of the Mediterranean world. After finishing school he spent his summers pottering in Greece; after university the Mediterranean bug took a more serious turn with a year spent on and off teaching English in Istanbul, exploring the city and walking across Anatolia with friends and donkeys. In recent years he has made return trips to the Greek-speaking world, including two visits to Mount Athos, spiritual home of the Byzantine tradition. All this resulted in his well-reviewed first book, Constantinople: The Last Great Siege 1453 (2005). His second book, Empires of the Sea (2008), is the continuation of this dramatic passage of history: the great sixteenth-century contest between the Ottomans and Hapsburgs for control of the Mediterranean.
Roger has talked about the empires of the Mediterranean to audiences as diverse as Melvin Bragg’s BBC programme In Our Time, the Center for Naval Analyses in Washington and his local WI. Over the years, he has worked as a teacher and publisher, and also has an undeveloped career as a poet to his name - he won a Society of Authors’ Eric Gregory Award for poetry, before retiring to the safety of prose. His writing interests are now focused on producing page-turning narrative history based on first-hand eyewitness accounts.
He is married and lives in the Cotswolds, where he ignores the demands of a large garden.
http://rogercrowley.blogspot.co.uk/
How I Found the Agency
I was recommended to another agent for my history book. I duly wrote a short letter explaining my idea and asking if s/he would read the proposal. After a month of waiting for a simple 'yes or no' reply ,I lost patience and googled a list of literary agents. The Lownie agency stood out as specializing in non-fiction; after a quick visit to the website (in its earlier incarnation) I decided to email Andrew my letter and got a reply the next morning. Of course the day after Agent 1 also got round to replying but by then it was too late!
QUOTED: "a bracing work by a masterly historian whose great knowledge portrays the 'dramatic symbolic significance' of this landmark event."
Crowley, Roger THE ACCURSED TOWER Basic (Adult Nonfiction) $28.00 11, 5 ISBN: 978-1-5416-9734-8
A history of the 1291 siege of Acre that brings the convoluted give-and-take between Muslim and Christian entities to vivid life and relevance.
Beginning in the 12th century, Acre helped hold together the "Frankish" principalities along the Mediterranean shore of Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria, aka the Outremer, which was established during the First Crusade (1096-1099) in the wake of Muslim onslaught. An ancient strategic site, writes Crowley (Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire, 2015, etc.), Acre first "fell to Islam in 636." In 1104, it was taken by Baldwin of Boulogne, the "first crusader King of Jerusalem," and became the "chief landing place for pilgrims and the armies to protect them." The Muslims regained the city in 1187. However, in a 683-day battering siege of the city's ramparts (1189-1191), the Christians, led by Richard I "Lionheart" of England and others, defeated the Muslims, who were led by Saladin, prince of the Ayyubid dynasty. It was a "titanic" battle that came down to Acre's so-called Accursed Tower, located in the most fortified area. Yet instead of extending mercy to the inhabitants, as Saladin had done to the Christians, Richard had approximately 3,000 Muslim defenders beheaded. This development set the "bitter legacy" for the final retaking of Acre from the Christians by the Muslims exactly 100 years later. Crowley adeptly builds the detail and suspense that led up to this extraordinary last pitched battle, which involved the might of the ascendant Mamluks, or the Turkish slaves who would become sultans, and their incomparable skills and resources, such as the awesome trebuchet. Led by the fearless Sultan Khalil, the Mamluks took the city by surprise in several weeks, with people attempting in vain to flee by ship. As the author writes in this exciting, sleek narrative, "the looting was feverish and spectacular." At the end of the book, the author also provides a useful section on "the evidence for the fall of Acre."
A bracing work by a masterly historian whose great knowledge portrays the "dramatic symbolic significance" of this landmark event.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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"Crowley, Roger: THE ACCURSED TOWER." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Oct. 2019. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A601050396/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=fad45e58. Accessed 27 June 2024.
QUOTED: "Crowley's narrative carries the reader along swiftly, not concealing the bloodshed or pulling his punches. He succeeds in bringing this complex series of events convincingly to life."
ACCURSED TOWER
The crusaders' last battle for the Holy Land
ROGER CROWLEY
256pp. Yale University Press.
20 [pounds sterling] (US $29.95).
The final siege of crusader Acre (today Akko) in May 1291 was short, dramatic and decisive. In capturing this strategic port city, Sultan Khalil of Egypt destroyed the "crusader" kingdom of Jerusalem for good. Drawing on the most recent archaeological studies and an impressive range of primary source material, Roger Crowley has produced a gripping account of this pivotal siege. The first half of the book sets the scene, tracing the events that led up to Sultan Khalil's attack, while the second half describes his planning and execution. The "Accursed Tower" of the title was the keystone of Acre's defences, the loss of which marked the turning point of the siege.
The complex politics of the kingdom of Jerusalem between the Third Crusade of 1189-92 and 1291 deter many students of the crusaders. Crowley skilfully navigates the twists and turns of events, setting out sufficient information to explain what was happening without baffling readers with superfluous detail. He shows how the balance of military power in the Middle East shifted during the thirteenth century: for a short time in the early 1220s Egypt was at the mercy of the Fifth Crusade, but by the 1280s the Franks had no means of withstanding Mamluk assaults on their fortresses and cities. The fault, he argues, lay partly with the Franks, who proved incapable of concerted action in their common interest, but his account makes clear that even a united regime would have been hard pressed to defeat Baybars, a brilliant, active and unscrupulous general who called himself "annihilator of Mongols and Franks".
Yet it was not Baybars or his children, but the son of the usurper Qalawun who finally destroyed the Franks' kingdom in 1291. Drawing on a range of Muslim sources as well as eyewitness Frankish accounts, Crowley produces a gripping, sympathetic and well-balanced account from the point of view of the Mamluk attackers on, and the Frankish defenders of, Acre. Given that each of the primary commentators put their own particular spin on events, this is no easy task. In the wake of the disaster, Latin Christendom sought scapegoats and survivors were accused of cowardice, while Muslim writers claimed the victory was revenge for Richard the Lionheart's capture of Acre from Saladin a century before.
Crowley's narrative carries the reader along swiftly, not concealing the bloodshed or pulling his punches. He succeeds in bringing this complex series of events convincingly to life.
Caption: From Midcentury Memories: "The Anonymous Project" by Lee Shulman, edited by Reuel Golden (280pp. Taschen. 40 [pounds sterling].)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 NI Syndication Limited
https://www.the-tls.co.uk/
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Nicholson, Helen J. "ACCURSED TOWER: The crusaders' last battle for the Holy Land." TLS. Times Literary Supplement, no. 6088, 6 Dec. 2019, p. 39. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A632137007/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=38a8a397. Accessed 27 June 2024.
QUOTED: "an extraordinary work of historical scholarship and certain to be an enduringly popular addition to both community and academic library history collections."
The Accursed Tower
Roger Crowley
Basic Books
www.basicbooks.com
c/o Perseus Books Group
250 W. 57th St., Suite 1500, New York, NY 10107
www.perseusbooksgroup.com
9781541697348, $28.00, HC, 272pp, www.amazon.com
Synopsis: The 1291 siege of Acre was the Alamo of the Christian Crusades--the final bloody battle for the Holy Land. After a desperate six weeks, the beleaguered citadel surrendered to the Mamluks, bringing an end to Christendom's two-hundred year adventure in the Middle East.
In "The Accursed Tower: The Fall of Acre and the End of the Crusades", Roger Crowley delivers a lively narrative of the lead-up to the siege and a vivid, blow-by-blow account of the climactic battle. Drawing on extant Arabic sources as well as untranslated Latin documents, he argues that Acre is notable for technical advances in military planning and siege warfare, and extraordinary for its individual heroism and savage slaughter.
A gripping depiction of the crusader era told through its dramatic last moments, The "Accursed Tower" offers an essential new view on a crucial turning point in world history.
Critique: Reading with all the dynamic and dramatic fluidity of a deftly crafted novel, "The Accursed Tower: The Fall of Acre and the End of the Crusades" is an extraordinary work of historical scholarship and certain to be an enduringly popular addition to both community and academic library history collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "The Accursed Tower: The Fall of Acre and the End of the Crusades" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $17.99) and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Blackstone Audio, 9781549128790, $35.00, CD).
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com
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"The Accursed Tower." Wisconsin Bookwatch, Feb. 2020, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A710603314/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=93e5f30f. Accessed 27 June 2024.
QUOTED: "The book is well written and gives the reader a sense of what it is must have been like to sail into unknown territory."
In This Issue / Reviews
Spice
The 16th-Century Contest that Shaped the Modern World
Roger Crowley Yale University Press, £20
Globalisation is a hot topic, but the phenomenon is nothing new, as historian Roger Crowley shows in this fascinating book. Globalisation really began, he says, in the 16th century, when European explorers discovered South America and Asia. The impetus wasn’t so much lust for gold or precious metals as a taste for the exotic spices and flavourings that came from Asia. Crowley examines the lives of the early explorers, from Ferdinand Magellan, who led the 1519–22 Spanish expedition to the East Indies, through to later voyagers such as John Cabot (born in 1450), who was instrumental to the development of transatlantic trade.
Spain and Portugal tried to divide up the rights to these lucrative trade routes among themselves, but informal agreements quickly broke down. Exploring was thus a dangerous occupation, as both Magellan and Cabot were to discover. By the end of the century, advances in nautical understanding vastly improved the chances of success, leading joint stock firms, such as the East India Company, to get involved.
Crowley seems torn between presenting an analysis of the impact of changing trade patterns and a more traditional narrative history, and in the end the economics gets pushed out by his accounts of some of the major voyages. But the book is well written and gives the reader a sense of what it is must have been like to sail into unknown territory thousands of miles from home. ■
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 MoneyWeek
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Spice." MoneyWeek, 7 June 2024, p. 44. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A796758585/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=5399bfd8. Accessed 27 June 2024.
QUOTED: "Crowley has the knack of turning fragments into a mosaic, and his latest book is another colorful, sweeping saga."
Crowley, Roger SPICE Yale Univ. (NonFiction None) $25.00 5, 14 ISBN: 978-0300267471
An engaging study of the first era of globalization, focused on the spice trade.
British historian Crowley has written a series of well-regarded, popular books about European history, including City of Fortune, Conquerors, and Accursed Tower. In his latest, the author keenly dissects the 16th-century contest between Portugal and Spain to capture the lucrative spice trade, even though it meant traversing the globe. Their competition, writes Crowley, was "a great game that literally shaped the world." In the early 1500s, a trickle of nutmeg, cloves, and mace had found its way to Europe and sparked huge demand, but their origin was a mystery. Exploratory voyages led to a small archipelago known as the Moluccas, located in what is now eastern Indonesia and the only source of the spices at the time. In 1494, Portugal and Spain had divided the southeast region of Asia--with no regard to the Indigenous populations--with a north-south line via the Treaty of Tordesillas. However, there was no concrete way to judge longitude or effectively enforce the treaty. Both the Portuguese and the Spanish sought to build on the region's existing trade networks as well as export spices back to Europe, and the silver mined from Spanish-controlled mines led to a vast expansion of commerce. In short, Europe and Asia had become tied together, and in a span of less than 80 years. The narrative could easily have become lost on the vast canvas, but Crowley, a consummate storyteller, has the experience to keep control of it, and he capably juggles the large cast of characters. He also peppers the book with illuminating maps and illustrations, creating a fascinating examination of a significant period in world history.
Crowley has the knack of turning fragments into a mosaic, and his latest book is another colorful, sweeping saga.
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"Crowley, Roger: SPICE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 June 2024, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A795674053/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=d1464921. Accessed 27 June 2024.
QUOTED: "an engaging new look at seasoning's long ago seasons."
Spice. By Roger Crowley. Yale University Press; 320 pages; $25 and £20
THEY LOOKED humble enough. One observer compared clove plants to laurel shrubs, while nutmeg, he noticed, grew on something resembling the pear tree. Despite their common appearance, in the 16th century these spices were special—and not just because, by a fluke of evolution, they grew only on a handful of islands in the Malay Archipelago, which came to be known as the Spice Islands. As Roger Crowley, a British maritime historian, explains in an engaging new look at seasoning's long ago seasons, nutmeg and cloves would have effects far beyond the kitchen, kindling revolutions from mapmaking to spycraft.
For centuries many were in doubt about the spices' origins. Marco Polo , the famed Venetian explorer, thought cloves came from China and nutmeg from Java. Mr Crowley begins his story in 1511, when the Portuguese began muscling into the South-East Asian spice trade . Eager for profit, their Spanish and English competitors soon joined them. In 1553 a trio of ships left London on a journey to reach the Spice Islands via Russia and the Arctic. Their voyage ended in disaster, but their fervour is not hard to understand.
Light and long-lasting, aromatics could fetch markups of 1,000% by the time they reached European markets. That made them more precious than their weight in gold, and the ports that unloaded them soon shimmered, too. "You are no city", wrote Fernando de Herrera, Seville's poet laureate, "you are a universe."
Just as the ancient Egyptians carved reliefs of spice fleets on their tombs, and the Romans valued them as portals to the gods, these explorers fell for spices' allure. "The scent of the clove is said to be the most fragrant in the world," claimed Garcia de Orta, a Portuguese botanist, adding that it smelled as sweet as "forests of flowers". Others marvelled at how spices interacted with the wider ecosystem. Encountering the bright green nutmeg trees, Portuguese sailors delighted in the "multitude of parrots and various other birds" that swooped and spread their seeds.
With cloves came conflict. In the war for spices, Portuguese and Spanish explorers killed locals, and each other, with gusto. Soon enough naval expeditions and the spices and other goods that inspired them would draw a "maritime belt" around the planet, Mr Crowley explains.
But competition for spices also fired up human ingenuity. Wherever they went, sailors kept scrupulous logs, detailing narrows and shoals for future adventurers. As more information became available in Europe—Portuguese captains were, among other things, expected to record latitudes—cartography became more common. In 1548 an Italian mapmaker produced the first pocket atlas. Spain and Portugal each held a master map of the world, constantly updated and jealously guarded from rivals.
That battle for intelligence helped to hone nations' spycraft. Ca'Masser, a Venetian agent posing as a merchant, learned a lot by loitering on the waterfront in Lisbon. "I have seen the sailing charts of the route to India," he reported back in code. Mr Crowley describes the 16th century as a "golden age" of cryptography.
Ultimately the Portuguese monopoly on spices was upended by a Dutch spy, Jan Huygen van Linschoten, who worked as secretary for the bishop of Goa in the 1580s and copied his charts, maps and navigational secrets. They formed the basis of a book, "Itinerario", which helped "launch the Dutch assault on the spice trade" and "dismantle the Portuguese empire" in the Spice Islands. Not bad for a secretary.
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"Spices have their own riveting, piquant history." The Economist, 22 May 2024, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A794804435/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=2dc30ae9. Accessed 27 June 2024.