The Mediterranean, or 'Middle Sea', has long been regarded as the symbolic centre of European civilization. The binding water between Turkey, the Middle East, the trading communities of North Africa, and the European powerhouses Italy, France and Greece, a history of this sea is a new and vital way of understanding the history of the societies which have flourished in the region.

The Islands of the Eastern Mediterranean charts the story of the water as both connector and border, and analyses the islands role in world history. From Mehmed II's efforts to conquer the old Roman Empire,...