A fascinating read... a perfect companion for anyone who visits Turkey and wants to make sense of it and those countries it once ruled'
The Times
As plush as a Turkish carpet... Godwin weaves together the threads of barbarism and civilisation with dazzling panache
- Piers Brendon, Mail on Sunday
So rich, so detailed and so astonishing as to be a book of wonders in itself
- Jan Morris, Independent
Perhaps the most readable history ever written on anything
Time Out