Customer Reviews
Very thorough - By: Too many books, 29 Sep 2008 
A very thorough account of the battle of Lepanto, covering the economic & political origins & consequences, as well as a detailed account of the course of the battle itself.
Capponi makes a good case for reconsidering the battle's significance, arguing that it really was a decisive eventin preventing further expansion of the Ottoman empirein the Mediterranean, despite the way many historians have lately portrayed it.
Ocasionally, the book did start to get a little dry, but even then it was thorough. The descriptions of the main characters involved on both sides is good, & the account of the battle itself is quite gripping. The political & diplomatic manoeuvering of the unstable alliance of Venetians, Spanish, Italians & the Pope is interesting, as is the political infightingin the Sultan's courtin Constantinople.
His account of the actual events of the battle itself is quite differentin many factual respects to Roger Crowley'sin 'Empires of the Sea'. Also, Capponi goes into far more detail of the ships, tactics & events of the day. On top of the military & political drama, you get a good sense of the human tragedy involved as well. A very thorough history, readable, yet arguing a strong case for his point of view.
Superb - By: Antonio Moncayo, 15 Aug 2008 This is a very well researched & written history book about the battle of Lepanto, with a broad introduction of the historical brackground & a magnificent description of the galleis & weaponery involved.
It will make an excellent holiday book .It is well illustrated with accurate maps & prints.
This is the best account of the battle I have read.
5 stars
An outstanding book on the subject, at last. - By: Sigismondo Alberghetti, 13 Aug 2006 After so many works of inadequate quality, we have at last an excellent piece of scholarship on the event thatin the XVI century saved Europe from Islam. For the first timein more than a century, Niccolò Capponi has written a book based on painstaking archival research & a thorough exam of printed sources. Thus he has managed to correct a number of incorrect statements about the battle, that almost all modern authors repeatin parrot fashion. The fundamental role played by superior Western technology, already suggested by Fernand Braudel, is here exploredin depth & ample credit is given to the decisive, devastating, effect of Christian artillery.
Although of high scholarly quality the book is enjoyable to read, & destined to remain a milestone amongst the many, & to often useless, publications about one of the most important victories of the West.
