Reviews

Victory of the West: The Great Christian-Muslim Clash at the Battle of Lepanto by Niccolò Capponi

davehershey's review

3.0

The first 250 pages of the book serve as background leading up to the battle of Lepanto, the account of which takes up only one chapter. If you enjoy history, especially the history of Muslim-Christian relations, you will enjoy this book. It is filled with a myriad of names and places, but the story is told well. Perhaps victory of the west is a misleading title, as for much of this time period France was in league with the Ottoman empire. Nevertheless, Lepanto was a turning point for both the Ottoman Turks and the Christian nations of western Europe, which Capponi points to in a too brief epilogue. For as much background as there was, to demonstrate that this battle was the "victory" of the west, a few chapters on what happened afterward would have been good.

Just a note, I recently read and gave 3 stars to a few books by James Reston. I give this 3 stars also, but found it much better than Reston's work, so perhaps 3.5 or 3.75 stars would be more appropriate.