I had so much hope for this book. I’ve been reading Robert Massie’s books and thought “Gee, what happened to the Ottomans? They were such a powerful force.” From the title and the book jacket synopsis, I thought I’d found the perfect book. But then I started to read the text. After forcing myself through sentences such as “And the famous Hatt-1-Humayan, or Reform Edict, of 1856, issued even while foreign troops still blanketed Constantinople, was so obviously shaped by European influence that it aroused more resentment than appreciation among Ottoman Muslims, many of whom were not sure why they had fought and died in a war so as to forfeit their legal supremacy over Christians, and - in one of the most notable reforms - to allow church bells to ring in Constantinople for the first time in centuries.” I realized I just do not care for this author’s writing style.