Istanbul
A Tale of Three Cities
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Istanbul
Narrated by:
Bettany Hughes
Buy Now for $43.99
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Narrated by:
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Bettany Hughes
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By:
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Bettany Hughes
About this listen
'Life-filled and life-affirming history, steeped in romance and written with verve' GUARDIAN
'Richly entertaining and impeccably researched' Peter Frankopan
Istanbul has always been a place where stories and histories collide and crackle, where the idea is as potent as the historical fact. From the Qu'ran to Shakespeare, this city with three names - Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul - resonates as an idea and a place, and overspills its boundaries - real and imagined. Standing as the gateway between the East and West, it has served as the capital of the Roman, Byzantine, Latin and Ottoman Empires. For much of its history it was known simply as The City, but, as Bettany Hughes reveals, Istanbul is not just a city, but a story.
In this epic new biography, Hughes takes us on a dazzling historical journey through the many incarnations of one of the world's greatest cities. As the longest-lived political entity in Europe, over the last 6,000 years Istanbul has absorbed a mosaic of micro-cities and cultures all gathering around the core. At the latest count archaeologists have measured forty-two human habitation layers. Phoenicians, Genoese, Venetians, Jews, Vikings, Azeris all called a patch of this earth their home. Based on meticulous research and new archaeological evidence, this captivating portrait of the momentous life of Istanbul is visceral, immediate and scholarly narrative history at its finest.
Written and read by Bettany Hughes
(p) 2017 Orion Publishing Group©2017 Bettany Hughes
Critic Reviews
This is historical narrative brimming with brio and incident. Hughes's portraits are written with a zesty flourish ... Istanbul is a visceral, pulsating city. In Bettany Hughes's life-filled and life-affirming history, steeped in romance and written with verve, it has found a sympathetic and engaging champion' (Justin Marozzi)
Bettany Hughes' Istanbul is built deliberately on what is passing as well as past. It is a story of numerous overlapping names, changes that often happened more slowly than the guidebooks tell us. Her subject is the city that was Byzantium for some 900 years, Christian Constantinopole for another 1,000, Islamic Islam-bol, then Istanbul - while also being New Rome, a Diamond Between Two Sapphires and The World's Desire...assiduous...passionate...there have beeen swirling tidal shifts around Istanbul since she began this book 10 years or so ago. She is celebrating citizenry of the world at a time when that idea is in retreat, damnming the "otherness" that the west has bestowed upon the east when throughout the world there are more and more "others"...She is a wistul and impassioned cosmopolitan who has produced a challenging story for 2017. (Peter Stothard)
Her latest book, Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities, is a particular stroke of genius...Over the years the city has had three names - Byzantium, Contantinople and Istanbul so in a vivid rattle she hurls Xerxes, Alcibiades, Constantine, Justinian, Theodora, Suleyman the Magnificent and a sometimes overwhelming cast of thousands before us...It is a story well worth telling as the region continues to implode, the final or at least latest lashings out of the Ottoman Empire's collapse...The book is littered with historical echoes that...are impossible to ignore...there are wonderful anecdotes...She concludes with an encomium to Istanbul as a world city - literally, a cosmo-polis - where faiths and ethnicities are brought together by learning or trade...not an original thought but one that in this particularly troubled moment, for bomb-hit Istanbul and the rest of us, bears repeating. (Richard Spencer)
With a broadcaster's delight, Bettany Hughes...throws herself into the gargantuan task of capturing the history of a city that spans 3,000 years, and whose story has been woefully neglected compared with other great urban centres...Hughes reconstructs Byzantium, Constantinople and Istanbul as living, breathing landscapes...her scholarship is impressive...her enthusiasm radiates...Her subject...is irresistibly rich. The place known simply as "The City", Hughes notes, has long lived a "double life - as a real place and as a story"...The tale she tells of the metropolis at the crossroads of the Earth is textured, readable and often compelling. (Louise Callaghan)
I would not hesitate to purchase this as an audiobook. Bettany's passion for her project is made clear not just by the detail in her book, but by the engaging delivery in her reading.
I think it is essential listening for anyone who has an interest in history because the story is delivered in such a dynamic manner. It will appeal to both young and old readers.
If, like me, Istanbul and Turkey have a special place in your heart, this book will take you on an unforgettable journey. All the same, if you have never given Istanbul's history a second thought, you're in for a tremendous surprise.
I am now eagerly awaiting any future releases from Bettany. Well done.
Great book and audio book.
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Fascinating City
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If you are expecting a Martin Gilbert like blow-by-blow without analysis, this is not the book for you. For Byzantium, Constantinople or Istanbul, you will need a Bodleian library of books for that kind of detail. Also, a working knowledge of Latin, Greek and Turkish would help if that's the way you want to go. However, this is a work of skill and passion which attempts to link the present with the past smoothly without tipping you up in the cracks in the mosaic floors.
As for narrative performance, Bettany has a very clear English voice, but very occasionally drops it for emphasis, rather than projecting it. I had to repeat passages to catch it. Projection is an actor's skill that could be quickly learned. Apart from that, it is a job well done.
I enjoyed this bird's eye view of the panorama that is Istanbul. With listening to history, you have to be quick to look up the maps and references to certain events or persons that pique your interest. One good addition to the next supplementary PDF would be some maps.
But for these tiny annoyances, I would have given it five stars.
Byzantine in a good way!
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A superb historical journey.
I had complete confidence in the author.
A force, as true as her subject.
Thankyou.
Sarah Stegley
The striking excellence of the history. Sarah Stegley
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