{"product_id":"the-great-siege-of-malta-9780141997759","title":"The Great Siege of Malta","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA major new history of the epic siege of the island fortress of Malta  Even as the great siege began it was understood by both sides to be an epic - a potentially decisive encounter between an uneasy assortment of soldiers, native Maltese, adventurers and Knights Hospitaller on a strategically crucial but near waterless island and a vast, seemingly all-powerful Ottoman armada. With three quarters of the Mediterranean's coasts already in the hands of the Sultan and his allies, all eyes were now on Malta.  This superb new account of the siege emphasises the crucial importance of the siege while at the same time putting it in a far wider context. While since mistakenly recast as a climactic battle between the West and the East, it was also much more interesting and nuanced than that - both sides had many other interests and priorities beyond Malta. S leyman the Magnificent had conquered and subsumed regions from Hungary to the Persian Gulf; Philip II was building an empire in America and Asia.  Drawing on a wide range of eyewitness stories, Marcus Bull gives a vivid sense of the period's technologies, values and assumptions. It was a grim world built on the labour of many thousands of disposable galley-slaves, shockingly brutal forms of warfare and religious absolutism. But it was also a world filled with the most extraordinary new discoveries and ideas. Both these worlds come together in the siege and in this book.\u003ch4\u003eDetails\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cp\u003eISBN13: 9780141997759\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFormat: Paperback \/ softback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNumber of Pages: 352\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEdition: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication Date: 28 Apr 2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublisher: Penguin Books Ltd\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication City, Country: London, United Kingdom\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDimensions (cm): 19.7(H)x12.8(L)x2(W)283\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWeight (gm): 283\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h4\u003eMarcus Bull is Andrew W. Mellon Distinguished Professor of Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of North Carolina. He has written extensively on Europe from the tenth to the sixteenth century with a particular emphasis on crusading in all its many forms.\u003ch4\u003eReviews\u003c\/h4\u003eAn \u003cb\u003eengrossing \u003c\/b\u003enew study… Bull’s account of the siege itself is \u003cb\u003elucid and dispassionate.\u003c\/b\u003e He has a sharp eye for bombast – representing the failed defence of St Elmo as a heroic act of self-sacrifice, for example – that might obscure uncomfortable truths… \u003cb\u003eBull has set himself a challenging task\u003c\/b\u003e: to convey the drama of the siege and the myths that grew out of it while downplaying, if not denying, suggestions of its wider historical importance.\u003cb\u003e It’s a difficult balancing act, but one he pulls off with aplomb\u003c\/b\u003e -- Mathew Lyons * Literary Review *\u003cbr\u003eMarcus Bull’s revisiting of the siege through the eyes of the Ottomans and a global lens that shifts our angle of vision has made a \u003cb\u003econsiderable contribution\u003c\/b\u003e to our understanding of the events of 1565... his approach is investigatory, based on \u003cb\u003ea forensic study of all the available evidence and posing open-ended questions\u003c\/b\u003e... the coverage of the siege itself is \u003cb\u003esuccinct and full of interesting perspectives\u003c\/b\u003e -- Roger Crowley * Engelsberg Ideas *\u003cbr\u003e‘\u003cb\u003eImpressive, deeply researched\u003c\/b\u003e… Rather than pursue old religious agendas and messianic readings of the triumph Bull places the siege in a broad global economic and political context -- Andrew Lambert * Naval Review *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThorough and propulsive\u003c\/b\u003e -- Michael Prodger * New Statesman *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA vivid account\u003c\/b\u003e of a close-run thing … \u003cb\u003epeculiarly fascinating\u003c\/b\u003e -- David Horspool * The Oldie *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThoughtful and incisive\u003c\/b\u003e… a great strength of Bull’s book is precisely that he often dissents from received opinion… he has provided \u003cb\u003ean impressive reassessment, rich in penetrating insights\u003c\/b\u003e, of a major moment in the history of the Mediterranean -- David Abulafia * TLS *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn epic account\u003c\/b\u003e… [a] no-nonsense, myth-busting book… [Bull] \u003cb\u003ewrites with knightly brio\u003c\/b\u003e and packs a great deal of local and global history into his\u003cb\u003e authoritative book\u003c\/b\u003e -- Pratinav Anil * The Times *","brand":"Marcus Bull","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48715913560281,"sku":"9780141997759","price":28.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0502\/9530\/8441\/files\/91nphLQIaQL._SL1500.jpg?v=1778977527","url":"https:\/\/www.arielbooks.com.au\/products\/the-great-siege-of-malta-9780141997759","provider":"Ariel","version":"1.0","type":"link"}