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 The New York Times bestselling author of Empires of the Sea charts Venice’s astounding five-hundred-year voyage to the pinnacle of  power in an epic story that stands unrivaled for drama, intrigue, and  sheer opulent majesty. City of Fortune traces the full arc of the  Venetian imperial saga, from the ill-fated Fourth Crusade, which  culminates in the sacking of Constantinople in 1204, to the  Ottoman-Venetian War of 1499–1503, which sees the Ottoman Turks supplant  the Venetians as the preeminent naval power in the Mediterranean. In  between are three centuries of Venetian maritime dominance, during which  a tiny city of “lagoon dwellers” grow into the richest place on earth.  Drawing on firsthand accounts of pitched sea battles, skillful  negotiations, and diplomatic maneuvers, Crowley paints a vivid picture  of this avaricious, enterprising people and the bountiful lands that  came under their dominion. From the opening of the spice routes to the  clash between Christianity and Islam, Venice played a leading role in  the defining conflicts of its time—the reverberations of which are still  being felt today.
  
 “[Crowley] writes with a racy briskness that lifts sea battles and sieges off the page.”—The New York Times
  
 “Crowley  chronicles the peak of Venice’s past glory with Wordsworthian sympathy,  supplemented by impressive learning and infectious enthusiasm.”—The Wall Street Journal
                             
         
     
    
         
        
    
 
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