---
product_id: 50461123
title: "Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities Hardcover – September 12, 2017"
brand: "bettany hughes"
price: "KSh36141"
currency: KES
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 10
url: https://www.desertcart.co.ke/products/50461123-istanbul-a-tale-of-three-cities-hardcover-september-12-2017
store_origin: KE
region: Kenya
---

# Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities Hardcover – September 12, 2017

**Brand:** bettany hughes
**Price:** KSh36141
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities Hardcover – September 12, 2017 by bettany hughes
- **How much does it cost?** KSh36141 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.co.ke](https://www.desertcart.co.ke/products/50461123-istanbul-a-tale-of-three-cities-hardcover-september-12-2017)

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- bettany hughes enthusiasts

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## Description

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## Images

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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    Mystical, Visceral History
  

*by J***E on Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2017*

Man, Bettany Hughes' books are always such a treat!  You always know when you crack open the cover and dive into those 700 pages that you're not going to get straight history.  Rather, you get a poetic description rich with content and...well...something that's not simple, linear history.Many great (and terrible) history books are all written in a similar, familiar style.  They provide a connect-the-dots presentation of the content: books that are engaging and informative.  At their best, they transport you into the past to really feel the culture and issues of that bygone era.Bettany Hughes new book, "Istanbul," (just like her previous two books) approaches history differently.  It's complex--almost mythical, but always rooted in her extensive personal research and the most recent scholarship.Hughes uses beautiful prose to interweave past and present.  She'll put you in a specific place--some little back alley of Istanbul... or anyplace!--and within a few sentences dazzle you with descriptions from antiquity and present of that one place.  Past and present merge.  Eras crash together.  All history seems to synthesize. You feel it all at once.  This isn't straight, linear history... it's mystical, visceral history!Reading "Istanbul" is a bit like being a geologist studying the layers of rock on a cliff face.  There it all is, past and present together, piled in artful layers.  You get a sense of both history and timelessness.That's not to say there's no linear, historical development in this book.  There certainly is a good, old fashioned connect-the-dots, cause-and-effect telling of Istanbul's biography here.  Hughes spends 700 pages walking us from antiquity to modernity.  But if you pick up this book, open it to any chapter, read it, and you'll find a confluence of many historical streams flowing into that one moment and place.Reading this book is a joy in the same way "Helen of Troy" and "Hemlock Cup" were.  I love Bettany Hughes' books!  I bought both this book and her last one the day they arrived in the store.  So, September 12, 2017 was a special day for me when this one hit the shelves.  Reading her books can take you on quite a trip.  They are a drug I quite enjoy!

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    3 cities--but 1,001 tales
  

*by F***R on Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2022*

Bettany Hughes, in this marvelous book, paints a lush panorama of life in Istanbul from the iron age to the age of Erdogan.  She tells us both what happened and what it felt like: sounds, sights, smells, tastes and touch.  And, while all roads may have led to Rome, all waterways led to Istanbul, making it a city of superlatives and sometimes also of extremes—courage, urban development, upward mobility and freedom…but also cruelty, catastrophe, inequality and slavery.  The role of women in the history of this remarkable city are highlighted as well. Lively, engaging and comprehensive, this book is a great introduction to the many faces of Istanbul as well as those within and how they affected the world.  Highly recommended.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    This is a good book, but several comments can be made regarding ...
  

*by S***C on Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2017*

This is a good book, but several comments can be made regarding its contents. The first section beginninhg with Byzantione and ending with the decline of the Byzantine Empire with the conquest of Constantinople by Sultan Mehmet II in 1453 is very detailed. Within this section I know the destruction of Old Rome, the establishment of New Rome and of the Byzantine Empire. I know in detail the 4th crusade by the Venetians in 1204 whose aim was Jerusalem, but who were so surprised by the beauty of Constantinople that they stayed there, destroyed it and returned to Venice with a variety of art works which today can be observed in Venice. The section is good in describing the discoveries the excavations have made during the construction of the tunnels in Istanbul. My comments refer to the Ottoman section of the book. Early in this section the book emphasizes the role of royal women praising them being the ones whose behavior in bath houses brought the renaissance by playing some role in the palace and/or requiring the construction of mosques. This is not renaissance. Subsequently it returns at length to their behavior in the harem, the way their dress, expresses in detail their behavior in bath houses, inviting guests there, including Lady Montagu and other European visitors. But with respect to events, especially with respect to battles between the Ottoman Empire and Europe, I find it explaining in detail those won by Europe, but mentioning extremely simply those in which Ottomans are defeated. For example, as  the first siege of Vienna is concerned it is simply stated that the Ottomans had arrived to the walls of the city, but Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent withdraws due to inclement weather. However, the third siege of Vienna in 1683 by Sultan Mehmet IV occupies a whole chapter, even mentions the decapitation off the Vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha who was the commander. Well, it was a successful event for the West. Also the sea battle of Lepanto in 1571, which is a defeat for the Ottomans, is analyzed in detail including the beheading of its commander Muezzinzade Ali Pasha. The Janissary corps is treated very lightly. There is no mention of the gradual decline of their organization after the reign of  Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent, becoming a state in a state, changing viziers as well as killing them, dethroning and killing sultans, even raping them, appointing new ones , and becoming very powerful. Finally Sultan Abdulmecid I eliminates them in 1826. The author mentions their elimination in the list at the end of the book.  My most important comment is the slight emphasis on the real renaissance during the reign of Sultan Ahmet III, which unfortunately lasted a short time. The author describes in detail the conquest and the development of the city thereafter with the Sultan Mehmet II increasing its population by bringing in migrants from different areas and undertaking new constructions in the city. The author refers to the successful achievements  of the sultan also as renaissance, which it is not. The  real renaissance occurred during the reign  of Sultan Ahmet III together with his Grand Vizier Ibrahim Pasha, but lasted unfortunately a short time. The author gives slight emphasis to this real renaissance.As Turkish history books do, the author also refers to this period as the Tulip Age. But in the Ottoman Empire the love for tulip is nothing new. Even before the reign of Sultan Ahmet III tulip was a favored flower.  Moreover, the word lale (tulip) and Allah (God), when written in Arabic letters contain the same letters. Sultan Selim I had  brought 50,000 bulbs from Aleppo; Sultan Murad III 300,000 bulbs from Crimea to plant in the gardens of the palace. According to Evliya Celebi there occurred a tulip market in Istanbul. But the age is not a Tulip Age. It is an Age that began with the activities of Grand Vizier Ibrahim Pasha and became the beginning of art, poetry, music, science and westernization, and the first -- and I insist the first -- and the last renaissance period. The great orientalist Bernard Lewis is of the same opinion. The changes it brought could not spread to the entire country; they occurred in Istanbul and to a certain extent in Konya and Nevsehir. A book is required to describe the developments that took place during this period. It was a period when liberal arts and thoughts developed, it was the beginning of an enlightenment in the fields of science, architecture, painting, miniature, music and poetry. For this purpose a movement towards the West occurred. Ibrahim Pasha succeeded in achieving only a part of what needed to be done. But because of the conditions of the society in which he lived it ended in 1730 with the rebellion led by the yeniceri Patrona Halil, as the author indicates in the list at the end of the book. This section should have been given more than its rightful due than the behavior of women described in several chapters.

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*Product available on Desertcart Kenya*
*Store origin: KE*
*Last updated: 2026-03-18*