Scholarly and concise, this book still manages to read like a great adventure novel.  The last days of a mordent Byzantine Empire are reported as the Turks close in and the Emperor desperately seeks help from Western European kings, the Italian states and the Pope.  The politics are every bit as complex and ruthless as in our modern world, with each actor looking out for his own interests—  The Pope promises help only upon a favorable resolution of the schism in with the Orthodox Church, for example.  Nor are Christian/Moslem lines always sharply drawn; at times Ottoman Turks hire out to fight for Christian kings and there are Christian vassals fighting in the Sultan’s army during the final attack.

After brilliantly setting the stage for the siege in the first chapters, we reach a detailed reconstruction of the siege midway through the book.  Around 7000 Greeks, Venetians and Genovese attempt to hold the miles of walls and fortifications of Constantinople against a force more than ten times as large.  Several clear maps and diagrams show the fortifications in plan and section, as well as disposition of the opposing armies.  Remarkably, the defenders hold out for two months.  The battle at land and sea is rendered on a grand scale and also lucid detail.    Here is an example of the prose from the climax of the battle

From across the foss the Sultan noticed the panic.  Crying: “The city is ours”, he
ordered the Janissaries to charge again and beckoned on a giant call Hasan.
Hasan hacked his way over the top of the broken stockade and was deemed to have won the promised prize. Some thirty Janissaries followed him.  The Greeks fought back.  Hasan himself was forced to his knees by a blow from a stone and slain; and seventeen of his comrades perished with him…

The Fall follows the story after the Ottoman conquest, telling the fate of its main
actors, the aftermath for the city and its treasures and how Europe was changed.  Of particular interest to readers on Slavic subjects were the effects of conquest of the Balkans and Greece and the separation of the Russian Orthodox Church from its Byzantine roots.  This history is well written and highly entertaining.

Peotr Alexivich