Ptolemy's map
Map: The Mediterranean, c. 1560
Map: The Siege of Malta
Map: The Battle of Lepanto
I. CAESARS: THE CONTEST FOR THE SEA. The Sultan pays a visit
A supplication
The king of evil
The voyage to Tunis
Doria and Barbarossa
The Turkish Sea
II. EPICENTER: THE BATTLE FOR MALTA. Nest of vipers
Invasion fleet
The post of death
The Ravelin of Europe
The last swimmers
Payback
Trench wars
"Malta York"
III. ENDGAME: HURTLING TO LEPANTO. The pope's dream
A head in a dish
Famagusta
Christ's general
Snakes to a charm
"Let's fight"
Sea of fire
Other oceans
Epilogue: Traces

A thrilling account of the brutal decades-long battle between Christendom and Islam for the soul of Europe. This struggle's brutal climax came between 1565 and 1571, seven years that witnessed a fight to the finish decided in a series of bloody set pieces: the epic siege of Malta, in which a tiny band of Christian defenders defied the might of the Ottoman army; the savage battle for Cyprus; and the apocalyptic last-ditch defense of southern Europe at Lepanto--one of the single most shocking days in world history. At the close of this cataclysmic naval encounter, the carnage was so great that the victors could barely sail away because of the countless corpses floating in the sea. Lepanto fixed the frontiers of the Mediterranean world that we know today