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Treasures of the Black Sea

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

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Enrich your travels with reading! Here's a hand-picked list prepared for your journey in conjunction with the book experts at Longitude.

Essential Reading

Item EXEUR501. Buy these 4 items as a set for $73 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
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Eyewitness Guide Istanbul

Eyewitness Guide Istanbul

by Eyewitness Guides

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 272 PAGES

This superb guide to Istanbul features color photography, dozens of excellent local maps and a district-by-district synopsis of the city's attractions. Handsome, convenient and up-to-date, this is the guide to carry. (TKY86, $25.00)

Black Sea

Black Sea

by Neal Ascherson

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 1996
  • PAPER
  • 306 PAGES

In this skillful portrait of a region, Ascherson weaves his own travels and impressions with a fascinating account of the Black Sea's history. From ancient mythology to modern politics, he admirably never loses sight of the sea itself. (RUS46, $19.00)

Borderland, A Journey through the History of Ukraine

Borderland, A Journey through the History of Ukraine

by Anna Reid

  • HISTORY
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 272 PAGES

Reid, who was for three years the Kiev correspondent for The Economist, combines first-person reports, interviews and history in this vivid portrait of the region and its people. With chapters on Kiev and Odessa. (RUS84, $17.00)

Turkish Reflections, A Biography of a Place

Turkish Reflections, A Biography of a Place

by Mary Lee Settle

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1991
  • PAPER
  • 253 PAGES

Settle's travelogue is a richly detailed portrait of Turkey, its people, myths, treasures and traditions. (TKY08, $16.99)

 
1453, The Holy War For Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West

1453, The Holy War For Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West


by Roger Crowley

  • HISTORY
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 304 PAGES

In this well-paced history, Crowley recounts with drama the events surrounding the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks. (TKY114, $15.99)

A Short History of Byzantium

A Short History of Byzantium


by John Julius Norwich

  • HISTORY
  • 1998
  • PAPER
  • 432 PAGES

A richly detailed and evocative history of the tumultuous span of the great empire from the fourth century to the 15th, brimming with intrigue, skullduggery, palace revolution and other treachery. (TKY18, $19.00)

Ancient Turkey, A Traveller's History

Ancient Turkey, A Traveller's History


by Seton Lloyd

  • HISTORY
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 240 PAGES

Turkey's archaeology and early history for the traveler by the former head of the British Archaeological Institute in Ankara. (TKY43, $28.95)

Crimea: The Great Crimean War, 1854-1856

Crimea: The Great Crimean War, 1854-1856


by Trevor Royle

  • HISTORY
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 564 PAGES

A well-researched military and diplomatic history of the Crimean War. Thorough and detailed yet readable, Royle's battlefield descriptions are especially well-done. (CCS33, $35.00)

Harem, The World Behind the Veil

Harem, The World Behind the Veil


by Alev Lytle Croutier

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 1991
  • PAPER
  • 224 PAGES
  • OUT OF PRINT

A fascinating illustrated look at the culture of the Harem -- particularly the well-known quarters at Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. The author combines interviews, history and a wonderful selection of art in this intriguing book. (ARB23, $25.00)

Russia, A Concise History

Russia, A Concise History


by Ronald Hingley

  • HISTORY
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 224 PAGES

Well-known scholar Hingley sketches Russia's multiple transformations from her illiterate, pagan, Slavic roots to a multi-ethnic empire in this highly readable, well-illustrated brief history. (RUS04, $19.95)

The Balkans, A Short History

The Balkans, A Short History


by Mark Mazower

  • HISTORY
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 188 PAGES

A brief, provocative survey of the complex and often contentious history of the Balkans. With eloquence and insight, Mazower addresses the issues of geography, nationalism and modern nation-building in the region. (BLK28, $13.95)

The Black Sea, A History

The Black Sea, A History


by Charles King

  • HISTORY
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 296 PAGES

A brisk history of the region, showing the Black Sea as uniting diverse cultures in the Balkans, Central Asia and the Middle East. (EUR173, $35.00)

The Classical World

The Classical World


by Robin Lane Fox

  • HISTORY
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 656 PAGES

Fox conjures tyrants, conquerors and enthralling personalities, from Homer to Hadrian, in this marvelously written history of ancient Greece and Rome. (GRE293, $19.99)

The Ottoman Centuries

The Ottoman Centuries


by Lord Kinross

  • HISTORY
  • 1988
  • PAPER
  • 638 PAGES

A richly detailed, engrossing history of the Ottoman Empire from its dawn in 1300 up to the foundation of the modern republic in 1923, enhanced by maps and photos. (ITL54, $18.99)

Art of the Byzantine Era

Art of the Byzantine Era


by David Talbot Rice

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 1985
  • PAPER
  • 286 PAGES

Wide-ranging and literate, this thoroughly illustrated introduction to Byzantine art is an indispensable classic. (TKY22, $21.95)

Balkan Ghosts, A Journey through History

Balkan Ghosts, A Journey through History


by Robert D. Kaplan

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 307 PAGES

Kaplan interweaves the history, art and culture of Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania and Greece with his travels in this portrait of the region. (BLK02, $17.00)

Between the Woods and the Water

Between the Woods and the Water


by Patrick Leigh Fermor

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 320 PAGES

Fermor continues with youthful adventures in Hungary and Romania, culminating with his arrival at the Iron Gates on the Danube. (CEU31, $15.95)

Istanbul, Memories and the City

Istanbul, Memories and the City


by Orhan Pamuk

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 320 PAGES

Nobel Prize-winner Pamuk writes with quiet grace of the city of his birth, celebrated in his many novels: a magical place of crumbling mansions and Ottoman riches, mingling Asian, Islamic, secular and European influences. (TKY99, $16.95)

Lords of the Horizons

Lords of the Horizons


by Jason Goodwin

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 351 PAGES

Goodwin artfully combines his modern travels with scholarship, history and reflection, capturing the outrageous personalities, events and vagaries of the 600-year-old Ottoman empire. (TKY44, $17.00)

On Foot to the Golden Horn

On Foot to the Golden Horn


by Jason Goodwin

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 278 PAGES

Goodwin interweaves history, incident and reflection in this excellent portrait of Central Europe. With chapters on Cracow, Slovakia, Budapest, Transylvania, Brasov and Bulgaria. (EUR81, $17.00)

Return to Ukraine

Return to Ukraine


by Ania Savage

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2000
  • HARD COVER
  • 272 PAGES

An engaging account of a return journey to Ukraine by a journalist who fled the country with her family in 1944. Savage interweaves history, modern travelogue and personal anecdote. (RUS126, $29.95)

Flashman at the Charge

Flashman at the Charge


by George MacDonald Fraser

  • LITERATURE
  • 1995
  • PAPER
  • 288 PAGES

In this installment in the rollicking, masterfully researched series of historical novels, our disreputable hero finds himself in Crimea -- and a participant in the Charge of the Light Brigade. (CCS29, $15.00)

The Collected Stories of Isaac Babel


by Isaac Babel

  • LITERATURE
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 511 PAGES

An authoritative edition of Isaac Babel's powerful short fiction, including his early Red Cavalry Stories and The Odessa Tales. (RUS171, $18.95)

The Cossacks

The Cossacks


by Leo Tolstoy | Peter Constantine | Cynthia Ozick

  • LITERATURE
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 192 PAGES

A fresh translation of Tolstoy's 1863 semi-autobiographical novel about a young Muscovite and his military adventures in the rough-and-ready Caucasus. The book is, in part, a portrait of the Cossacks -- and an account of falling in love. (RUS241, $13.00)

The Towers of Trebizond

The Towers of Trebizond


by Rose MacAulay | Jan Morris

  • LITERATURE
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 277 PAGES

Mixing high farce, archaeology, history and lively travel writing, MacAulay's impossibly clever short novel follows the adventures of English missionaries traipsing across Turkey. (TKY15, $15.95)

Noah's Flood, The New Scientific Discoveries about the Event That Changed History

Noah's Flood, The New Scientific Discoveries about the Event That Changed History


by William Ryan | Walter Pitman

  • SCIENCE
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 320 PAGES

Yes, there was a flood! So report the scientist-authors in this vivid account of the geology of the Black Sea. They draw on biblical history, marine geology, archaeology and mythology to demonstrate that the Black Sea was breached by the Mediterranean 7,600 years ago. (BLK42, $16.00)

More Recommendations

Here are some other groups of books that might be of interest

Longitude provides recommended reading for travelers in partnership with the leading tour operators and travel programs for hundreds of destinations worldwide. We've got the classic, new and hard-to-find books and maps to help you get the most out of your adventures.