La Sicile, plus grande île de la Méditerranée, est le relais entre l'Europe et l'Afrique, le lien entre l'Occident latin et l'Orient grec. Sa situation stratégique a tenté les empereurs romains, les princes français et les rois espagnols, la plaçant au centre de l'histoire du monde.
John Julius Norwich est le premier à nouer ensemble les fils de l'histoire sicilienne dans une seule étude globale. De ses débuts comme cité-État grecque à son émergence comme carrefour multiculturel pendant les croisades, et de la rébellion contre l'unification italienne à l'essor de la mafia, l'histoire de la Sicile est riche de moments et de personnages extraordinaires.
Un récit vivant et érudit qui nous dévoile le tumultueux destin de cette île fascinante.
Le livre de J.J. Norwich retrace l'histoire d'un empire de onze siècles, sans rival en durée ou en influence culturelle. Cette " nouvelle Rome " naît en 330 lorsque l'empereur Constantin choisit d'établir sa capitale dans un port d'Asie mineure appelé Byzance. Elle s'effondre en 1453 sous les coups du sultan Mehmet II. Pendant ce long millénaire s'est développé un empire au corps romain, à l'esprit grec et à l'âme orientale.
J. J. Norwich le raconte comme une immense fresque où la galerie des quatre-vingt-huit empereurs est brossée avec un luxe de précisions, le souci de choisir le détail piquant de la vie privée, d'isoler la bataille décisive ou l'acte politique majeur. L'histoire de l'empire byzantin devient, à la lecture de ce livre, pittoresque et colorée. l'auteur navigue avec habileté entre mythe et réalité, entre hypothèses et événements documentés.
Ses points de vue sont pertinents et tranchés. son écriture, fluide et imagée.
'For his final book, the late Norwich tackled the dauntingly vast subject of two millennia of French history with admirable lightness and urbanity . . . his comic footnotes deserve a review of their own' DAILY TELEGRAPH I can still feel, as if it were yesterday, the excitement of my first Channel crossing (as a child of nearly 7) in September 1936; the regiment of porters, smelling asphyxiatingly of garlic in their blue-green blousons; the raucous sound all around me of spoken French; the immense fields of Normandy strangely devoid of hedges; then the Gare du Nord at twilight, the policemen with their kepis and their little snow-white batons; and my first sight of the Eiffel Tower . . . This book is written in the belief that the average English-speaking man or woman has remarkably little knowledge of French history. We may know a bit about Napoleon or Joan of Arc or Louis XIV, but for most of us that's about it. In my own three schools we were taught only about the battles we won: Crecy and Poitiers, Agincourt and Waterloo. The rest was silence. So here is my attempt to fill in the blanks . . . John Julius Norwich's last book is the book he always wanted to write: the extremely colourful story of the country he loves best. From frowning Roman generals and belligerent Gallic chieftains, to Charlemagne (hated by generations of French children taught that he invented schools) through Marie Antoinette and the storming of the Bastille to Vichy, the Resistance and beyond, FRANCE is packed with heroes and villains, adventures and battles, romance and revolution. Full of memorable stories and racy anecdotes, this is the perfect introduction to the country that has inspired the rest of the world to live, dress, eat -- and love better.
The Mediterranean has nurtured three of the most dazzling civilisations of antiquity, witnessed the birth or growth of three of our greatest religions and links three of the world's six continents. This work tells the story of the Middle Sea itself - a story that begins with the Phoenicians and the Pharaohs and ends with the Treaty of Versailles.
La Sicile est au carrefour de l'histoire du monde. Dans un récit vivant et érudit, John Julius Norwich narre le tumultueux destin de cette île fascinante, et des tyrans, des monarques et des reines remarquables qui ont combattu pour la dominer.
La Sicile est la plus grande île de la Méditerranée, le relais entre l'Europe et l'Afrique, le lien entre l'Occident latin et l'Orient grec. Sa situation stratégique a tenté les empereurs romains, les princes français et les rois espagnols. Les luttes qui s'en sont suivies pour la conquérir et la garder ont joué un rôle crucial dans l'essor et le déclin des dynasties les plus puissantes du monde.
Le récit palpitant de John Julius Norwich est le premier à nouer ensemble les fils de l'histoire sicilienne dans une seule étude globale. De ses débuts comme cité-État grecque à son émergence comme carrefour commercial multiculturel pendant les croisades, et de la rébellion contre l'unification italienne à l'essor de la mafia, l'histoire de la Sicile est riche de moments extraordinaires et de personnages spectaculaires.
Située à la croisée de trois continents, la Méditerranée a nourri trois des plus fascinantes civilisations de l'Antiquité et a été le creuset d'une multitude d'autres. Depuis les Phéniciens jusqu'à« l'empire informel » britannique, John Julius Norwich nous raconte comment cette mer a décidé de l'histoire des terres qui la contournent. En guide passionné, il nous plonge successivement au coeur des guerres puniques, des invasions barbares, de la conquête arabe, des croisades, de la chute de Constantinople, de la bataille de Lépante ou du Risorgimento italien. Car entre échanges et heurts, compréhension et rejet, la Méditerranée raconte l'histoire de la rencontre des civilisations occidentale et orientale.
John Julius Norwich presents a sweeping tour of forty great cities that shaped the ancient world and its civilizations - and which in turn have shaped our own.
The cities of the ancient world built the foundations for modern urban life, their innovations in architecture and politics essential to cities as we know them today. But what was it like to live in Babylon, Carthage or Teotihuacan?
From the first cities in Mesopotamia to the spectacular urban monuments of the Maya in Central America, the cities explored here represent almost three millennia of human history. Not only do they illustrate the highest achievement of the cultures that built them, but they also help us understand the rise and fall of these ancient peoples. Eminent historians and archaeologists with first-hand knowledge of each site give voices to these silent ruins, bringing them to life as the teeming, state-of-the-art metropolises they once were.
A Short History of Byzantium is renowned historian, and author of A History of Venice , John Julius Norwich's classic history of Byzantium Constantine the Great moved the seat of Roman power to Constantinople in AD 330 and for eleven brutal, bloody centuries, the Byzantine Empire became a beacon of grand magnificence and depraved decadence . . . Here then are the centuries dominated by ferocious arguments over the nature of Christ and his Church. By knowledge, where scholars and scribes preserved the heritage of the ancient world. By emperors like Justinian the Great and Basil the Bulgar-Slayer - men pious, heroic or monstrous. By creativity, as art and architecture soared to new heights. In this abridgement of his celebrated trilogy, John Julius Norwich provides the definitive introduction to the savage, scintillating world of Byzantium. 'Norwich has the gift of historical perspective, as well as clarity and wit. Few can tell a good story better than he' Spectator 'A real-life epic of love and war, accessible to anyone' Independent on Sunday 'Norwich tells a remarkable story with boundless zest. He offers character sketches of the appalling personages who infest his narrative . . . with the assurance of a Macauley or a Gibbon' Daily Telegraph John Julius Norwich was born in 1929. He was educated at Upper Canada College, Toronto, at Eton, at the University of Strasbourg and, after a spell of National Service in the Navy, at New College, Oxford, where he took a degree in French and Russian. In 1952 he joined the Foreign Service, where he remained for twelve years, serving at the embassies in Belgrade and Beirut. In 1964 he resigned from the service to write. He is the author of histories of Norman Sicily, the Republic of Venice and the Byzantine Empire. He has written and presented some thirty historical documentaries on television, and is a regular lecturer on Venice and numerous other subjects.
@2@'Sicily is the key to everything' Johann Wolfgang von Goethe @3@@2@The author of the classic book on Venice turns his sights to Sicily in this beautiful book full of maps and colour photographs.@3@@2@'I discovered Sicily almost by mistake . . .We drove as far as Naples, then put the car on the night ferry to Palermo. There was a degree of excitement in the early hours when we passed Stromboli, emitting a rich glow every half-minute or so like an ogre puffing on an immense cigar; and a few hours later, in the early morning sunshine, we sailed into the @18@Conca d'Oro, @19@the Golden Shell, in which the city lies. Apart from the beauty of the setting, I remember being instantly struck by a change in atmosphere. The Strait of Messina is only a couple of miles across and the island is politically part of Italy; yet somehow one feels that one has entered a different world . . . This book is, among other things, an attempt to analyse why this should be.' @3@@2@The stepping stone between Europe and Africa, the gateway between the East and the West, at once a stronghold, clearing-house and observation post, Sicily has been invaded and fought over by Phoenicians and Greeks, Carthaginians and Romans, Goths and Byzantines, Arabs and Normans, Germans, Spaniards and the French for thousands of years. It has belonged to them all - and yet has properly been part of none. @3@@2@John Julius Norwich was inspired to become a writer by his first visit in 1961 and this book is the result of a fascination that has lasted over half a century. In tracing its dark story, he attempts to explain the enigma that lies at the heart of the Mediterranean's largest island. @3@@2@This vivid short history covers everything from erupting volcanoes to the assassination of Byzantine emperors, from Nelson's affair with Emma Hamilton to Garibaldi and the rise of the Mafia. Taking in the key buildings and towns, and packed with fascinating stories and unforgettable characters, @18@Sicily@19@ is the book he was born to write.@3@
Ce livre retrace l'histoire d'un empire de onze siècles.
Aucun empire chrétien n'a pu rivaliser en durée comme en influence culturelle. de moscou à venise, de londres à paris ou rome, des déserts d'arabie, les rois, les élites et les peuples ont rêvé de venir à constantinople, de la conquérir comme de commercer avec elle. cette " nouvelle rome " n'aît en 330 lorsque l'empereur constantin choisit d'établir sa capitale dans un port d'asie mineure appelé byzance.
Elle s'effondre en 1453 sous les coups du sultan mehmet ii. pendant ce long millénaire s'est développé un empire au corps romain, à l'esprit grec et à l'âme orientale.
John julius norwich avait publié une trilogie universitaire sur byzance. dans cet ouvrage, écrit à l'intention du grand public, il raconte l'histoire de l'empire byzantin comme une immense fresque où la galerie des quatre-vingt-huit empereurs est brossée avec un luxe de précisions, un souci de choisir le détail piquant de la vie privée, d'isoler la bataille décisive ou l'acte politique majeur.
L'histoire de byzance devient, à la lecture de ce livre, pittoresque et colorée. l'auteur navigue avec habileté entre mythe et réalité, entre hypothèses et événements documentés. aussi, malgré la succession de bouleversements, de complots, john norwich donne une histoire claire, servie par une écriture fluide et imagée, offrant des points de vue pertinents et tranchés.
