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Malta is one of the smallest nations in the world, yet has one of the longest histories of any country.The accidents of geology and geography produced an island at the center of the Mediterranean with a large harbor and ample resources for the construction of fortifications. As a result, the Maltese bore witness to many of the great conflicts in world history, from the Punic Wars, to Napoleon's conquests, to the North African and Mediterranean campaigns during World War II.

Covering the entire sweep of the island's history, Castillo argues that not only was Malta's geographic location critical, its people played a crucial role in many of these struggles. The Maltese contributed largely to the defense of the islands when invaded by the Ottoman Turks in 1565, and the people rebelled against French rule after Napoleon evicted the Knights of Malta. During World War II, Malta became a strategic hub for the Allies' Mediterranean campaign, and the islands endured some of the most sustained and intensive bombing during the war— up to 15 tons of bombs per square mile.Includes chapters on the Knights of Malta, the 1565 siege, Napoleon's invasion, Malta's role in World War II, and modern Malta.

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The story of Malta's Middle Ages, from the end of Roman rule to the arrival of the Knights Hospitallers, extends across centuries of exciting changes and dramatic events retold for the very first time in an attractive volume by Charles Dalli. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Another mistake
Why is this book on Australia attached to a record for a different book on medieval Malta?Just because that have the same author doesn't make them the same book! ... Read more

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Malta offers a rare opportunity to examine the Punic settlements of the west Mediterranean from the first appearance of Phoenician traders and immigrants around 900 BC to approximately 200 AD when the local culture finally became Romanised. This book has brought together and thoroughly examined an immense body of new data from diverse sources - museum holdings, manuscript material and photographic archives. At the heart of this volume is a coherent and logical developmental sequence and chronology of Punic pottery. The evolution of the shape and structure of the rock-hewn tombs, and their distribution across the Maltese archipelago, have also been traced. Future researchers will find this work an invaluable tool for the study of Phoenicians abroad generally, as it presents many hitherto unpublished tomb groups and individual items from generally inaccessible collections. A detailed gazetteer of several hundred maltese Punic tombs has been described as a truly monumental effort. ... Read more

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In this handsome book, H.J.A. Sire provides the first complete history of the Order of St. John, also called the Knights of Malta, from its military and political role during the Crusades to the modernized Catholic institution that it is today. Generously illustrated, the book contains numerous examples of the Order`s enormous art and architectural legacy over nine centuries. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Great book, in depth
This book was wonderful and didn't seem to leave anything out.It was interesting times.Good book.

Knights of Malta Has Plenty of Detail
If you are interested in an indepth history of this ancient religious order and its impact on Europe and the Catholic Church then this book is a good bet for you.Sire provides tons of historical data and you can tell that this text was very well researched.Having said that, Knights of Malta was a somewhat difficult read for me.The author assumes the reader has some fluency in Latin and in French as there are no translations of certain passages of text.Likewise the writing style is more reminiscent of a college text book.I can't fault Sire in providing so much historical detail but in so doing, the overall feel of this book is very dry.

The Knights of Malta
In 1096, when the first Crusaders arrived in Jerusalem, they discovered the Hospital of St. John, which healed the wounds of the heroic knights.It would be this encounter that led the hospitallers to rally around their leader Brother Gerard de Saxo and created the Order of St. John.The knights returned to Europe, but they never forgot the kindness of the hospital that healed their wounded.After the first Crusade, the Order grew in importance and received many appreciative donations that helped solidify the future for the Order. The activities of the Order of St. John throughout its history assumed the role as the defenders of Christianity.The Order gained importance and power because the knights of the order fought bravely against the vigorous Islamic world.The knights defended the Holy Land for a long time, but were finally expelled at their last stronghold at Acre in 1291. The Order of St. John moved to Cyprus for fifteen years, then Rhodes, and lastly Malta.

If you are going to read Bradford's The Great Siege: Malta 1565, I would highly recommend that you read something on the Knights of Malta and their origins (this book would be a good choice).I give the book four stars because I really enjoyed reading Attard's Knights of Malta than this particular book.Perhaps, it was the trendy front over, the fewer pages, the comfortable feeling folding the pages or his better storytelling of the Great Siege in my opinion.

defenders of the faith, and all that
Well, this work is certainly comprehensive, not to say exhaustive, so I give it three stars in deference to that.However, this is a recent piece of history writing, and it really doesn't show.Like the many 19th century histories you can find at your local library, Sire's book is conspicuously lacking in distance from the subject.He frequently displays a partisanship (I think) unsuitable for a historian, lacing his writing with condemnation of the "dishonorable" actions of the French knights and the paints a winning portrait of the SPanish. (I am particularly thinking of the section on Juan de Homedes, 1550's.)He presents his arguement as a 'debunking' of de Homedes' bad press, but never really addresses the issue.In short, I think the author is more interested in dreaming of the days of chivalry than seriously re-examining the controvertial role of the Knights.

Thorough, Scholarly, and Historical if Tough to Read
An excellent scholarly account of the Knights of St. John, Rhodes, and Malta.Very well researched, and I found the writing interesting and exciting, although others may find it tough to slog through.Absolutelythe definitive work on the order. ... Read more

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Malta: Island Under Siege not only relates the decisive military action from World War II but also details the religious, historical and political events that led to the Axis forces' attempts to conquer and occupy Malta, putting the reader in the meeting rooms of the military leaders and politicians, on board the convoys, in the cockpits of the bombers and with the civilian population sheltering beneath Malta's fortresses while trying to live as normal a life as possible.

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The Island of Malta occupies a pivotal position in the Mediterranean, forming an outpost between North Africa and the soft underbelly of Europe. Such has been its strategic importance throughout the years that it has become one of the most fortified places in the world. Following the successful defence of the island during the Great Siege of 1565, the Knights Hospitaller built new walls and fortifications. These defences failed when Napoleon occupied Malta in 1798, and the island was retaken by the British in 1800. From this point onwards, Malta’s defences were modernised throughout the 19th century and the island’s final test came during World War II. This book examines all these different styles of fortification from the 16th to the 20th century. ... Read more

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Illustrated catalogue of the Museum's holdings. ... Read more

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Deals with the contributions to the field made by members of the medical fraternity. The study records how our present knowledge of medicine has been gained and how it is applied to the prevention, control and treatment of disease. ... Read more

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This is the fourth in the series of Nostalgias volumes by Giovanni Bonello in which he lays before the reader handsome sets of photographs taken by artists, mainly Maltese, who recorded the appearance of the landscapes and seascapes of the Maltese Islands and, to a smaller extent, that of the people who inhabited them in the late nineteenth century and in the first half of the last century. Handsomely bound and elegantly designed like its predecessors, Nostalgias of Malta - Images by Horatio Agius from the 1860s to the 1900s, should sit proudly on a bookshelf or on a coffee table, whilst being pleasantly useful as a work of reference, or as one of those books through which it is pleasant just to leaf idly. As usual, Giovanni Bonello has not just made a careful choice of those photographs from Horatio Agius's studio to include, but has also made sure that those of them to whom time has been unkind have been professionally doctored. He has also provided one of his very readable and carefully researched introductions to Agius as an artist and as a man. In fact, the early part of the introduction will remind readers of Bonello's numerous articles about people - Maltese, Knights of St John and Britons - whose lives were noted for irregularities in social mores, as he reveals that Agius was born in 1844 out of wedlock to a married woman, and a father who was to recognise him when Horatio was twenty-six years old. The boy did not receive a regular schooling, it seems, but he managed to learn a photographer's technical skill, and over the years made some good money out of photography. He tried his best to achieve social acceptance by acquiring immovable property, marrying as the second of his two wives a woman from a good middle-class family, and finally by buying himself a dubious Neapolitan knighthood, following which he styled himself Chev Horatio Agius. He died in 1910.His many photographs, many of which are remarkable for their sharpness, provide a fine record of Valletta, its harbours, and of Cottonera in the last few decades of Queen Victoria's reign. The captions used for the original prints have been retained, leading to hilarious phrases such as "French Chapee [for Chapel]" or "Colidor of the Armoury". The greatest novelty is the series of figures in lay or religious garb - cotton spinner, chorister, peasant, Capuchin Father, etc. A photograph showing "The Boys of HMS Garnet" - naval ratings wearing the large straw hats still worn as part of the summer uniform in Victorian times - should become a favourite especially with English readers. ... Read more

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Becker's studies of Malta's early Christian and Jewish sepulchral art are well-researched and exceptionally thorough. Most authors who later wrote on the subject refer to Becker in one way or another. Yet, due to the difficulties posed by the language, many of Becker's important findings and results remain unknown. In this new translation, the author has opted for clarity, accuracy and shorter sentence structures that enable the reader to follow Becker's detailed descriptions. However, Becker's choice of terminology has been scrupulously translated. Every chapter contains endnotes by the translator that provide further explanations, updates or translations. The original version is littered with quotes in Latin, Greek, English, French, Italian and Hebrew, none of which Becker translated. For this English translation, these quotes have been translated in the endnotes. Furthermore, when dealing with the inscriptions found in Malta, Becker often refers to inscriptions published in the Corpus Inscriptiones Latinarum (CIL) and in A. A. Caruana's 1882 publication, both of which are here provided in the endnotes, together with their translations where possible. Only some plans of the various hypogeal described by Becker were available when he was in Malta. The plans published later by Caruana and Buhagiar, to which Becker simply refers, have also been added and corrected where possible. The history and development of the Maltese Jewish and early Christian burial grounds is by no means a closed chapter today. The reader must bear in mind that many more hypogea have been discovered since Becker's 1913 publication, in Malta and abroad, and that many more papers have been published since. These new discoveries have added considerably to our knowledge. It is hoped that with this English translation of Malta Sotterranea, Becker's results and observations will form a more active part of the discussion. ... Read more

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The strategic importance of Malta sitting astride both the Axis and Allied supply routes in the Mediterranean was obvious to both sides during WW2. As a result the Island became the focal point in a prolonged and dreadful struggle that cost the lives of thousands of servicemen and civilians. After setting the scene for the action, this book tells the story of the Island's stand against the might of the Axis powers that led to the unprecedented award of the George Cross to the whole island by King George VI. It not only covers the struggle by the British and Maltese forces on the ground but the vicious fighting in the skies above. This was indeed a siege involving every man and woman on the Island.

David Wragg tells the story using many first -hand accounts and yet skillfully explains the strategic situation. The result is an inspiring book worthy of the courage shown by the Islanders and their defenders. ... Read more

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A journey into Malta's checkered history through the seven basic elements that most influenced its roots and made Malta what it is: sea, rock, water, food, faith, war, and celebration. The author and photographer narrate, through words and pictures, each of these elements, transforming every chapter into an explosion of verve and color depicting the Maltese way of life, its culture, traditions, and gastronomy. br> This book is a fresh approach ot the island's history from the dawn of civilization through to the threshold of the new millennium and its membership in the European Union. ... Read more

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The artist Joseph Briffa chose to bequest a number of his works to the National Museum of Fine Arts on his death in 1987. Briffa applied his artistic talent to paintings on the ceilings of several churches in the Maltese islands and also helped shape Malta's artistic movement. His bequest has ensured that a nucleus of his works has remained accessible to others who wish to learn more about one of the foremost artists of the 20th century. This publication is a testimony to Briffa's bequest and work. ... Read more

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In June 1941 Adolf Hitler launched the offensive that would prove to be one of the defining moments of World War 2. With the German invasion of Russia - Operation Barbarossa - unrestricted total war was released onto a massive area of central and eastern Europe. On the ground and in the air the massive forces of Germany and the Soviet Union fought out epic battles that stretched as far east as Moscow and Stalingrad before the inexorable strength of the Soviet forces gradually forced the Axis armies to retreat westwards to Berlin and beyond. Historians of the period are familiar with the great land battles of the era - Stalingrad, Kursk and Leningrad, for example; less familiar is the tale of the evolving aerial strategies adopted by the Luftwaffe and by the Russians. Initially outclassed and outperformed by the might of the Luftwaffe on the Eastern Front, Soviet equipment and tactics improved immeasurably during the war, thereby helping to negate the potency of the Luftwaffe in the various theaters. Drawing upon his knowledge as a professional military pilot and on detailed researches, Andrew Brookes examines the history of the aerial war on the Eastern Front. Covering the war on the Eastern Front chronologically, the author initially examines the strategic balance before analyzing the role of the Luftwaffe in the first phase of Barbarossa, when the Germans again adopted the Blitzkrieg tactic which had proved so effective in Poland and France. Subsequent chapters record the changing strategic balance as the Russians employed more potent aircraft, including many supplied via the Arctic convoys by Britain and the USA, and as the tide of war turned against the Germans. Supplementing the author's well-researched and authoritative text are some 160 mono illustrations including line drawings and contemporary photographs.With interest in the Eastern Front continuing to increase as more information emerges from the once closed Russian archives, Air War over Russia is a timely and erudite examination of an often ignored part of the war in the east. It will appeal to military and aviation historians alike. ... Read more

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Malta has recently come to the attention to global strategic planners.This report puts these executives on the fast track.Ten chapters provide: an overview of how to strategically access this important market, a discussion on economic fundamentals, marketing & distribution options, export and direct investment options, and full risk assessments (political, cultural, legal, human resources).Ample statistical benchmarks and comparative graphs are given. ... Read more

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Caravaggio's sojourn on the island of Malta in 1607-08 is one of the most fascinating episodes in Baroque art. The painter had committed a murder in Rome in May 1606 and subsequently fled to Naples, where he soon became well-known for his gritty, naturalistic altarpieces. Suddenly, in the early summer of 1607, he decided to leave his thriving Neapolitan studio for the newly built city of Valletta, the headquarters of the Knights of Malta. The chance to obtain a knighthood and redeem himself for his Roman crime was no doubt foremost in his mind.

Written by two leading authorities in the field, this richly illustrated book tells the story of Caravaggio's voyage to Malta, his interactions with the Knights and their leader, Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt, and the magnificent paintings he made for them. Among the works he produced on the island are the Beheading of St John the Baptist - his largest and only signed picture - and the St Jerome Writing, a canvas of exceptional pyschological force.

The book presents new iconographic, technical, and stylistic analyses of all of the Maltese pictures as well as two chapters devoted to discussions of Caravaggio's importance in the history of art and the chronological problems in his late works. Based on original archival research, this study also includes an account of Caravaggio's crime in Malta, his imprisonment, and his daring escape to Sicily. ... Read more

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Anthony Bonanno's simple and lucid account makespleasant, uncomplicated reading; its authenticity backed by solidscholarship and thorough good sense.The superb photographic recordmatches to perfection his impressive account on the early history ofMalta, making it a publication that is a pleasure to handle, visuallyrewarding to leaf through, reliable and informative to read andassimilate.This new update edition contains eight pages on therecent acquisitions following excavation of the prehistoricunderground cemetary at Xaghra Circle in Gozo. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent introduction for the non-specialist
Malta has been inhabited for around six thousand years, and its archeological remains are very rich.It had a remarkable civilization by the fourth century B.C. during which large temples, regarded as theearliest free-standing structures in the world, were built, while duringthe long Roman domination (218 B.C. - A.D. 535) Malta had a flourishingeconomy. Professor Bonanno's slim book, with its splendid photographs byMario Mintoff, includes a series of short but authoritative introductionsto such topics as the stupendous underground Hal Saflieni Hypogeum, but theemphasis is on illustrationsand pithy captions.This is a bookI wouldcertainly recommend to the non-specialist who has only a few days toexplore Malta's archeological heritage. ... Read more

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The most documented account of the French occupation of Malta between 10 June 1798 when Napoleon landed on the island with his Army of the East, and 5 September 1800 when the French commander General Vaubois capitulated to British officials who had come to the assistance of Maltese insurgents. ... Read more

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This is an OCR edition without illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from GeneralBooksClub.com. You can also preview excerpts from the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Volume: 1; Original Published by: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts in 1858 in 554 pages; Subjects: Hospitalers; History / Middle East / General; History / Medieval; Religion / Institutions & Organizations; ... Read more