"The rise and fall of Venice's empire is an irresistible story and [Roger] Crowley, with his rousing descriptive gifts and scholarly attention to detail, is its perfect chronicler."—The Financial Times  The New York Times...

Set during the height of the Ottoman Empire and with Christendom weakened and vulnerable, this is the story of the fifty-year battle for domination of the Mediterranean, centered around the titanic battles of Rhodes, Malta, and Lepant...