The Black Sea: A History

In this timely book Charles King provides a stretchy timeline for the murky pool (once a lake, now a tideless sea) which has always sat on the edge of everything: Europe, Asia, civilisation, barbarism, us and other. (The Guardian Review)

This is an essential book for anyone who feels they ought to know about what used to be called “the eastern question” and worries, secretly, that it is too late to start finding out. (The Guardian)

A solid work by an academic historian, writing for the general educated public. He is particularly good on little known or forgotten episodes – the part played by Westerners in the development of the area. King is well placed to see through the myths of nationalists … he has a good eye also for the victims of history. Kings work has all the virtues of good American scholarship … vast array of sources, … a transatlantic detachment, and the recent and very welcome fashion for elegant prose. (Andrew Mango, TLS)

The collapse of the Soviet Union restored two great geostrategic arenas long buried in now-defunct empires or pushed to the margin by Cold War alignments. The first is Inner Asia, an immense hinterland stretching from the Chinese borderlands, across the Siberian south, to the Hindu Kush. The second is the Black Sea, a junction where the Balkans, Central Asia, and the Middle East meet. (Say no more.) To appreciate what this re-embodiment means one needs a special vantage point. King traces the Black Sea’s many political incarnations from the Greeks and Scythians to the Romans, the Byzantine Christians, the Ottomans, the Russians, and the tumult of the twentieth century. Even when fractured and populated with weak and troubled states (as now), the region, King argues in this mind-broadening book, coheres-and deserves to be thought about and approached accordingly.

…essential reading for all who are dealing with the Black Sea history and archaeology. (International Journal of Maritime History)

The collapse of the Soviet Union restored two great geostrategic arenas long buried in now-defunct empires or pushed to the margin by Cold War alignments. The first is Inner Asia, an immense hinterland stretching from the Chinese borderlands, across the Siberian south, to the Hindu Kush. The second is the Black Sea, a junction where the Balkans, Central Asia, and the Middle East meet. (Say no more.) To appreciate what this re-embodiment means one needs a special vantage point. King traces the Black Sea’s many political incarnations from the Greeks and Scythians to the Romans, the Byzantine Christians, the Ottomans, the Russians, and the tumult of the twentieth century. Even when fractured and populated with weak and troubled states (as now), the region, King argues in this mind-broadening book, coheres-and deserves to be thought about and approached accordingly. (Foreign Affairs)