Confrontation at Lepanto: Christendom vs. Islam - Hardcover

Hopkins, T. C. F.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0765305380 ISBN 13: 9780765305381

Publisher: Forge Books, 2006

Synopsis

Like an angry lion, the Turkish menace growled at the frontiers of Europe. In 1453, the last remnant of the mighty Roman Empire was obliterated when Turkish forces overran Constantinople. Western civilization was being threatened by medieval Islam. By 1570, a huge Turkish fleet had begun to turn the Mediterranean into a Muslim lake. A year later Pope Pius V created an anti-Ottoman alliance known as the Holy League--Christendom's answer to Jihad.
One morning in October 1571, Don John of Austria, commanding the fleet of the Holy League, met the Ottoman Turks in the waters at the mouth of the Gulf of Patros. The future of a despairing, fragmented Europe was about to be decided....
By four o'clock that afternoon the naval battle had become a mêlée, and the sea had literally turned from blue to red from all the blood shed. When the smoke cleared, the Turkish fleet had been broken.
In sheer numbers of casualties there has never been a more costly naval battle than Lepanto. The Crusaders lost 17 ships and 7,500 men; the Muslims lost more than 200 warships and nearly 20,000 men.
For the first time in more than a century, West had defeated East. The Christians had successfully taken the offensive. Lepanto was one of the greatest turning points in history, though the centuries to come would see many more battles in the continuing conflict between Christianity and Islam.
Confrontation at Lepanto is a fascinating account of that decisive battle on a very human level. Drawing on meticulous research, the author brings to life personalities, tactics, and details, making the narrative as fascinating and compelling as a novel. The result is a book whose lessons resonate today.

About this title

About the Author

T. C. F. Hopkins has studied history for more than forty years and has a special interest in cultural anthropology as well as military history. The pseudonym for a famous and beloved author of dozens of fantasy, horror, and young adult novels, she has been nominated for the Edgar Award, the World Fantasy Award, and the Bram Stoker Award. This is her first book as T. C. F. Hopkins.

From Booklist

The so-called "clash of civilizations" explanation of the current tensions between the Islamic world and the West may be a distortion or exaggeration or an outright myth. But 500 years ago it was an undeniable reality. In the sixteenth century, it was Islam under the aggressive leadership of the Ottoman Turks that appeared to be ascendant. The great Christian citadel of Constantinople had fallen in 1453; a century later, the Turkish navy was poised to gain control of the southern and eastern rims of the Mediterranean. The threat, however, energized Christian nations to form an alliance, the Holy League. In 1571, two fleets met off the coast of Greece in the last great battle of oar-driven ships. The victory of the Holy League was a major turning point in history. Hopkins has provided a compact, fast-moving, and frequently exciting account of the struggle, climaxed by an absorbing blow-by-blow description of the daylong battle, avoiding excessive reliance on naval jargon, enabling general readers to appreciate this excellent recounting of a seminal event. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Forge Books
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0765305380
• ISBN 13: 9780765305381
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208