Review by Choice Review
Over the years, Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent has been the subject of many scholarly and popular works. The former category mainly consists of works focusing on specific aspects of his 46-year reign, while the latter tends to be general, often superficial, treatments of his life and times. What has been lacking is a scholarly biography in English. Şahin (Indiana Univ.), author of Empire and Power in the Reign of Süleyman (2013), has produced a biography that exhaustively mines Ottoman, Safavid, and European sources as well as modern scholarship on Süleyman, written in a compelling and approachable manner that will appeal to specialists and general readers alike. Following Süleyman from his childhood days alongside his ambitious father (later sultan), through his time as the heir apparent to the Ottoman throne, to his illustrious reign, the book is both a biographical study of the longest reigning Ottoman sultan and a tale of the ever-changing realities of empire building in the 16th century. This volume will serve as the standard English account of Süleyman's reign and the model for how to write a biography of a sultan. Summing Up: Essential. General readers through faculty. --Robert W. Zens, Le Moyne College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
