The subject of this vast, astonishing and brilliantly readable work of history is the bizarre story of the Ottoman Empire, seen through the lives and actions of its sultans, with their absolute power and terrifying cruelty, their love of pomp and magnificence and their overwhelming venality and corruption. Rarely has a great empire been ruled by such grotesque and awesome figures: Suleiman the Magnificent, who allowed his wife to persuade him to murder his eldest son and his best friend; Selim the Sot, who fathered a long line of degenerate rulers; Murad III, who left 103 children behind him when he died; Mustafa, who was kept in a cage, attended by deaf-mutes, until he ascended to the throne; sultans who practiced their archery on living people; sultans who had their younger sons strangled with silken cords in order to protect the succession; sultans who were ruled by the intriguing women of the harem; sultans who drowned the ladies of their harem by the score, having them dropped into the Bosporus in weighted sacks; sultans who gave the reins of empire to their favorite eunuchs-four hundred years of tyrants who fought wars, terrorized their subjects, made Turkey a great empire, then allowed her to decline into ostentatious and impotent decay.

In this richly detailed and almost incredible work of history, Noel Barber describes the men, the events, the daily life, the strange customs of Turkey's court, from her emergence as a great power in the sixteenth century to the death of Kemal Ataturk, who overthrew the Sultanate to establish a new and more mod-ern form of tyranny.

His book is a unique and fascinating record of four centuries of glory, debauchery, splendor and cruelty.

About the Author

Noel Barber has written 22 books, many of them historical reconstructions. His last, The War of the Running Dogs, was the History Book Club of America choice in 1972; his Sinister Twilight has been translated into eight languages. He is married to an Italian woman and has two children. He lives in Chelsea and the south of France.

 

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster; First Edition (November 23, 1973)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0671216244
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0671216245
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.45 pounds
• Condition: Used-Very Good

This is the 1st edition of the title "THE SULTAN" in very good condition. The pages are clean and bright; the binding is sound, and it has a remainder mark at the bottom edge.  The DJ is intact, wrapped with protective sleeves.