Rating: 
Summary: Reads like a nice, big fat novel
Review: Sources are exclusively European. Very few Turkish writers are referenced (Halil Inancik, & Kemal Karpat among them), rest is English, and French. So as long as the reader keeps that in mind, it is a worthwhile book to read. I felt Kinross was being unfair at times in his description of the Turkish people, but we can't forget that the book is written from an English perspective. Biases will and do creep in. Despite the subject matter, the book is also surprisingly easy to read. Many beautiful engravings that show the Ottoman life are included. One particular Istanbul engraving from 1839, almost stopped my heart. It was spookily real!
Rating:
Summary: The Sublime Porte
Review: That this book has remained in print since at least the mid-1970s and has survived the author for more than twenty-five years should tell you something of its quality. In the fourteenth century, the Ottomans began to fill the power vacuum left by an increasingly ineffectual Byzantium. In 1453, the Sultan's troops captured Constantinople and converted the basilica to a mosque: there followed centuries of military supremacy and expansion, culminating in Suleiman the Magnificent's unsuccessful seige of Vienna in 1529. Sadly for the Turks (and happily for others), the Ottoman state never stopped trying to be the world's most successful feudal system: this was all well and good for medieval times, but the Renaissance, Enlightenment and Revolutionary eras largely passed the Sultanate by, and by 1878, the Tsar dubbed it the "sick man of Europe." The patient expired in 1922. Kinross, an avid admirer and disciple of Edward Gibbon, is generous in providing rich, sometimes bloody, details of the Seraglio's inner workings, including the liberal use of the "Imperial Bowstring" (which was used by every new ruler to garrot any of his siblings who posed as potential usurpers). My only criticism of Kinross is his repetition of the "And It Was All Downhill From Here" mantra: he first chants it when the Venetians defeated an Ottoman galley-fleet at Lepanto (1571); it is then applied to every subsequent assasination or defeat.
Rating:
Summary: A great history lesson
Review: The Ottoman Empire has always intrigued me. In doing research on the history of Turkey I picked up Lord Kinross' book and was fascinated by the intrigue, the way government was handled, the brutality of it all. From the beginings of the Ottoman period to the sad demise of a once great empire the reader gets an idea of how things were in palace life. The different sultans were of interest to me too. From Murad IV who was crazy to Suliman the Great (wicked as he was, and great conqueror) to the overthrow of the empire led by Kemal a colonel in the Turkish military in the early part of the 20th century.This is a must read for anyone interested in Turkish or Ottoman history. I also recommend it for anyone who is interested in history in general or in government.
Rating: 
Summary: Long but superficial
Review: The Ottomans were an important force in Asian and World affairs for six centuries, from 1300 to the end of World War I. This book attempts to take a comprehensive look at their empire, the political forces that drove it, personalities that ran it, and causes of its collapse.
The book *is* reasonably well-written, if the British upper-class writing style is your preference. It's illustrated (my edition, anyway) profusely throughout, with pictures of the various personalities involved and the places that they visited or lived. Though interesting, the book does have several flaws.
The first is an interesting one, and one that I don't believe would occur if the book were written today. This is a book about the Ottoman Empire, where almost everyone spoke Turkish, and there's not one book in that language in the bibliography. This leads me to wonder how much of the language the author spoke, even though he was writing a history of the Empire. Back in the day British historians could get away with this (to them, all of the important sources would be in English, or perhaps French, anyway) but of course these days things would be different. And of course the author does have a rather Western point of view, though he is at times sensitive enough to attempt objectivity.
This is a rather dated book---about 30 years old. There is, no doubt, a newer, more comprehensive book out there on the Ottoman Turks, and if there isn't, there will be soon. On the other hand, if you run across this in a used bookstore or somewhere, it's not a bad place to start.
Rating:
Summary: Well written, but with some major omissions
Review: This book is exceptionally readable and provides a good background for people who are interested in the Ottoman Empire. The personalities of the major Sultans and Grand Viziers come through via Kinross's vivid descriptions and character analysis. However, there are some major gaps in the work.
Kinross is at his strongest when describing the Ottoman advance into Europe, which ultimately ended with the second siege of Vienna. Even as the Ottoman successes were rolled back by the European powers he is clearly in his element. Much of what he has written regarding the Balkan campaigns and the rise of Balkan nationalism has relevance to the current conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. Moreover, Kinross also does an admirable job of describing the major reform movements and internal battles of the Ottoman Empire, particularly after 1700.
However, there are major weaknesses in the work. First, Kinross spends precious little time examining the Asian and African conquests by the Ottomans and the patterns of rule established in places like contemprary Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. These are issues that anyone reading in the post 9/11 world would likely have found particularly interesting and relevant to understanding today's events.
Similarly, Kinross spends little time examining social institutions, especially the Caliphate that resided in Istanbul until its abolition by Ataturk. Again, what happened with regard to Islamic belief in the Ottoman Days is a critical component of the rise of Islamic radicalism in the 21st century.
Kinross's writing regarding the 19th and 20th centuries is largely derived ultimately from European sources, particularly diplomatic traffic from the various European ambassadors posted to the Sublime Porte. These dispatches tend to overexaggerate both the power of the European states as well as the backwardsness of the Turks, to the detriment of his writing on the final days of the Empire. Indeed, the final two chapters regarding the collapse of the Sultanate are the most unfulfilling, reading like a term paper rushed to conclusion to meet a deadline.
Overall, these comments should not distract from the fact that the book is generally well written and for the most part covers the major events of Ottoman history well. It is just a shame that given the obvious aptitude Kinross had for writing that he could not have compiled a more comprehensive work.
Rating:
Summary: Very good
Review: This book serves its goal very admirably. It manages to quash centuries worth of history into several hundred pages of very readable writing. For a fairly good overview of the history of the Balkans and the entire eastern Mediterranean coast from Rome until Versailles read Julius Norwich's Byzantium series first and then follow it up with this.
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Summary: Magnificent story of Ottoman rise and fall; power soap opera
Review: This book should be required reading for anyone planning a visit to Turkey. It is an incredible story of how great leaders carried a border tribe into world super-power status over three centuries and then weak leaders and internal strife allowed its decline into dissolution. It's almost a modern soap opera. Very well written. I carried it on our tour bus and our guide wouldn't let me take it home -- he wanted so much to read it himself, I gave him my copy as a going away present
Rating:
Summary: Superb! Lucid, fascinating and thrilling!
Review: This is a history of the Ottoman Empire (as might be evident from its title). Many history books have the flaw of being informative, however dull and boring. I am not a professional historian, and usually I am not interested in all the marginal remarks and references. Fortunately, this is not one of those history books.
Although this is a serious history book, it saves the lay reader from all the marginal remarks. This is a beautiful history, and it actually reads like a thriller. The author does not hide his personal evaluation and opinion. For example, he does not hesitate to criticize Sultans Selim II and Murad III and root the long and inevitable decline of the Empire with their lack of skills to govern the Empire. Especially pay attention to the chapter on the fall of Constantinople, and to the scattered descriptions of sieges throughout the book.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: This is history as its meant to be read. Fabulous, thrilling, romantic, unforgettable. Read Lord Kinross sequel to this tome, "Ataturk", which is one of the finest biographies I've ever read.
Rating:
Summary: From Osman I to Ataturk you'll be mesmerized by this book.
Review: To the average American, the Ottoman Empire is perhaps the least known empire in history. Yet, for centuries, the Ottoman influence, military might, open-mindedness, religious tolerance, and meritocracy resembled the United States of the 20th century. Kinross's Ottoman Centuries brings to life the legacy of the Ottomans and the mighty Turkish Empire. Although it is difficult to summarize over six hundred years of history into one book, rest assured that even the best informed Turkish historians would enjoy this work. Americans however, should pay particular attention to the Ottomans' history. We can find so many of the same roots of decline in our own empire. There are so many parallels it is hard to swallow. The only surprise to me was that Kinross placed such small emphasis on World War I. There was hardly any mention of the battles of Galipoli, which led to the defeat and withdrawl of the British armed forces. Of course, it is quite possible that this subject has been covered in greater detail in the sequel to this book; Ataturk. Good luck trying to find Kinross's Ataturk however, it has been out of print for over 20 years. I enjoyed the Ottoman Centuries so much that I had to find this sequel. Amazon.com was able to find me a used copy, and I Can't wait to read it.
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