The Middle Sea is a thorough study of history of the Mediterranean from the ancient world to the end of World War I. It focuses on how the various early empires of Egypt, Greece, Rome and Venice (amongst others) formed and how they interacted in their shared space. The wars of religion and crusades are covered in detail and the rise of the Ottoman Empire and the Muslim expansion to Spain are discussed. The Rise of Spain, Great Britian and France make up the next section and events like the Seven years War, Napoleon and concert of Europe with Metternich get their due. Finally we see the Rise of Italy and development of Germany which weakens Austria. The book ends with World War I and the fall of the Ottomans. The book stays true to its roots and acknowledges events that happen but skips past them saying it had little bearing on the Mediterranean. Overall if you are interested in the history of this region this is an amazing primer.

Want too impressed by this book. I've read Mr. Norwich's other books on the Byzantine empire and thoroughly enjoyed those reads.

A concise history of the Middle Sea, still counting 666 pages. The book covers a wide range of people (Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Ottomans,...), events (Malta, Lepanto, Gallipoli,...) and different dynasties (Bourbons, Hohenstaufen,...). I am not sure I have captured every detail, but it is good to know that I can fall back on it when I lack the level of detail to understand specific historical topics related to the Medittereanan Sea.

رحلة مشوقة عن العالم القديم تأخذنا على سفينة تجول بنا فى مجاهل تاريخ البحر المتوسط و كيف كان شاهدا ومشاركا فى تشكيل ورسم خريطة وحياة البشر على شواطئه و فى جزره و قيام وأفول ممالك و امبراطوريات.
لنا ان نتخيل كيف كان تاريخ شعوب المتوسط مليئا بالمآسى و مكتوبا بالكثير من الدماء، تاريخ من الحروب واﻷوبئة والفتن والمؤآمرات.
عالم من كل الوان السلوك البشرى وطيف غنى من التنوع اﻹجتماعى واللغوى والثقافى.
كتاب موسوعى غزير بالمعلومات التى لم اعرفها من قبل فى اسلوب شيق وممتع تنسى معه هم قراءة ال 777 صفحة التى يحتويها.

2.5 stars.
Good god this was a slog. It felt like I was reading this book forever, like a realtime reconstruction of Mediterranean history.

But, it is certainly pretty comprehensive. My biggest complaint would be that there is no particular perspective or structure on the part of the historian. My favorite history books are those which use a macrohistoric point of view to follow recurring themes and concepts to make a broader point. Instead, this ends up being a rather dull recitation of facts.

There is little point in speculating on how history might have been changed had Constantine Dragases indeed married Maria Brankovich.

The Middle Sea is as generous, sweeping and relentless as the Mediterranean itself might prove -- but likely not. I am all about half measures this morning. We have been given an airport history but one of a relative heft. I am not ashamed to admit it filled in gaps, I didn't have a clue about the fate of the Republic of Venice. This is also the historical equivalent of Gosford Park as events become the focus until attention drifts elsewhere without resolution. I found that compelling except when it wasn't. I think this is a fair assessment of the coastal players and I don't belief anyone is ignored. Norwich is obviously self-conscious about tying things up at war's end and the 1919 treaties. There is an illuminating epilogue in the chapter on the Suez Canal where Ike is allowed his, "Nah," to the UK, France and Israel.

The Middle Sea’ tells within its six hundred pages some five thousand years of the history of the Mediterranean region. It begins with ancient Egypt and meanders through Greeks, Romans, Fenicians, Huns, Goths, Arabs, Byzantium, Holy Roman Empire and all the others that populated our more recent history until the end of the first world war. This is a history like no other and considering the scope no small achievement, but composing such enormous work did come at a price. Tough choices had to be made, and hard priorities had to be applied, resulting in some confusion every now and then, when the “scope cookie cutter”, intersected the flow of historical events.
At times, I also had to admit the limits of my personal abilities, when the events were less familiar and I found the speed and the amount of detail rather overwhelming. But on the whole, regardless of the occasional challenge, it was a real feast. I enjoyed filling up the gaps and just completing the picture with context and details that only a helicopter view of the whole region and a longer period of time can give.
I certainly gained a better understanding of many historical facts , from the sweeping history of the crusades, the Arab caliphates and their long dominance in the region, to the emergence of the Italian state, not to mention many other things that have previously escaped my attention.
In all that, there is only one thing that I hold against Mr Norwich - his overzealous interest in wars and battles. It is obviously a matter of personal interest, and probably if I was to share this reflection with all other readers of this book, for every one that would agree with me, there would be another one that would point to this very feature as the book's strongest point…. So, it is a highly personal note, to wish that the balance of the narrative was leaning more towards how people lived, instead of how they died…
The amount of knowledge gathered on those pages is breathtaking. And the perspective of the whole of the Mediterranean region slicing the usually more linear and geographically bound knowledge into pieces and then stitching them back together again in a completely different way is refreshing and useful to say the least.

A clear, well reasoned work focused on Europe's interaction with the Mediterranean Sea (BTW, this work is certainly Euro-centric and not for the Islamic oriented scholar though that religions' actions are certainly included) written in easily accessible prose, it is informative for the scholar and casual reader as well. Happy to recommend it to anyone curious about Europe's little lake.

I thought Norwich did only a very average job on this book. He jumps about from place to place without any cohesive theme or approach, and the level of depth of analysis is generally lacking except when it comes to the limited British incursions into the Meditteranean. I've heard his books on Byzantium are much better than this one, and I hope so.

This is a good--but not great--history of the Mediterranean. Historians tend to be less than concise, and this book reminded me of why 600-page history books better be really, really good.

Aside from whining about the length, this was an interesting, mostly enjoyable read. As opposed to Davies' Europe, The Great Upheaval, Hobsbawn's History of Civilization, A Peace to End All Peace, The Arms of Krupp, etc., this did not provide an interesting new lens through which to view a geographical area, epoch, or culture. The book tries to avoid a European bias, but you can almost hear the author rooting against the evil Arab interlopers and the Turk at various parts, and the history of the Islamic portions of the Middle Sea are almost entirely ignored unless they come into contact with a European state.

Hmm, I'm mostly complaining now. This is a good book to read if you are bored and the topic interests you -- if you were stuck on vacation, this would be a great book to have with you. If you are looking for a long book to squeeze into your already busy life, check out any of the books mentioned above.

This was an intensely educational book that hit all the missing elements of my own spotty understanding of european history starting so very far back with Greece, then Rome, then the Crusades, then the Popes, then WWI. It is rich and amusing territory for storytelling, though in this multi-national and multi-century account a bit overwhelming with breeziness--it is broad in scope and yet minuscule in detail, and all this told in perfect dactyls, or are those iambs, or pentameter?: that rhythm that clutches your throat and won't let you stop reading even when you're late for an appointment and starving for dinner. Looking at Europe from the point of view of the Mediterranean seems to make available another perspective on the Crusades and the concept of European identity. Yet the book's archly Anglo perspective is sometimes hilariously narrow. Norwich, a son of British nobility, can't seem to suppress the persona of well-meaning British colonialist. The word "we" slips in alarmingly often--"we" being alternately everyone who's not Muslim, everyone who wasn't Axis in World War II, etc. It's pop history I guess, not stellar writing; not primary research; blinkered about its ethnocentrism. That said, it does the job if, like me, you're -- alas --not planning to to read Baudrilard anytime soon.

Good, but the author seemed to care more about telling a good story than about historical accuracy.