1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the clash of Islam and the West, Roger Crowley

I wish all history were this clearly written. It's actually a bit more like reading about a great disaster than history; you know the people of Constantinople are going to be defeated by the Turks, it's only a question of how and when. The longer they manage to hold out against all odds the harder it got for me to accept that their eventual defeat came from such a stupid series of tiny mistakes, rather than an overwhelming army attack. 

Really, really absorbing history, and a good starting place for people who don't know much about the crusades and the expansion of Islam, or why that panicked Europe so badly.

Grade: B