A fascinating read... a perfect companion for anyone who visits Turkey and wants to make sense of it and those countries it once ruled'

As plush as a Turkish carpet... Godwin weaves together the threads of barbarism and civilisation with dazzling panache

So rich, so detailed and so astonishing as to be a book of wonders in itself

Perhaps the most readable history ever written on anything

Weir's sound scholarship and storyteller's gift for rich, telling detail constantly engages and enthrals the reader

Stylish look at two centuries of quarrels and catfights

Entertaining... An elegantly written, wise and authoritative volume

This is a timely book. It comes at a moment when British politics is haunted by the intimate enmity of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and by all its attendant sub-feuds

This is a most engaging and rewarding book...stylish, scholarly and notably perceptive

He [Campbell] captures the determining role of personality in politics and the book is strong on tactics, strategy and, most of all, skulduggery

a wonderfully, irresistibly compelling read

...cleverly conceived and stylishly executed...

...well worth staying the course... Campbell's dissection of this last union covers much familiar ground, but he shows just how much a close political relationship can hobble an administration as much as energise it

The book is a joy to read: meticulously researched, beautifully written and scrupulously fair.

stylish book

Entertaining study