Very thorough
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A very thorough account of the battle of Lepanto, covering the economic and political origins and consequences, as well as a detailed account of the course of the battle itself.
Capponi makes a good case for reconsidering the battle's significance, arguing that it really was a decisive event in preventing further expansion of the Ottoman empire in the Mediterranean, despite the way many historians have lately portrayed it.
Ocasionally, the book did start to get a little dry, but even then it was thorough. The descriptions of the main characters involved on both sides is good, and the account of the battle itself is quite gripping. The political and diplomatic manoeuvering of the unstable alliance of Venetians, Spanish, Italians and the Pope is interesting, as is the political infighting in the Sultan's court in Constantinople.
His account of the actual events of the battle itself is quite different in many factual respects to Roger Crowley's in 'Empires of the Sea'. Also, Capponi goes into far more detail of the ships, tactics and events of the day. On top of the military and political drama, you get a good sense of the human tragedy involved as well. A very thorough history, readable, yet arguing a strong case for his point of view.
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Superb
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This is a very well researched and written history book about the battle of Lepanto, with a broad introduction of the historical brackground and a magnificent description of the galleis and weaponery involved.
It will make an excellent holiday book .It is well illustrated with accurate maps and prints.
This is the best account of the battle I have read.
5 stars
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An outstanding book on the subject, at last.
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After so many works of inadequate quality, we have at last an excellent piece of scholarship on the event that in the XVI century saved Europe from Islam. For the first time in more than a century, Niccolò Capponi has written a book based on painstaking archival research and a thorough exam of printed sources. Thus he has managed to correct a number of incorrect statements about the battle, that almost all modern authors repeat in parrot fashion. The fundamental role played by superior Western technology, already suggested by Fernand Braudel, is here explored in depth and ample credit is given to the decisive, devastating, effect of Christian artillery.
Although of high scholarly quality the book is enjoyable to read, and destined to remain a milestone amongst the many, and to often useless, publications about one of the most important victories of the West.
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