Product Description

On Saturday 9th September, 1922, the victorious Turkish cavalry rode into Smyrna, the richest and most cosmopolitan city in the Ottoman Empire. What happened over the next two weeks must rank as one of the most compelling human dramas of the twentieth century. Almost two million people were caught up in a disaster of truly epic proportions.

PARADISE LOST is told with the narrative verve that has made Giles Milton a bestselling historian. It unfolds through the memories of the survivors, many of them interviewed for the first time, and the eyewitness accounts of those who found themselves caught up in one of the greatest catastrophes of the modern age. (20040704)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #125730 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 464 pages

The Economist
'Paradise Lost is a timely reminder of the appalling cost of expansionist political ambitions; it tells a fascinating story with clarity and insight.'

Review
'Milton has written a grimly memorable book' (William Dalrymple, Sunday Times )

'A master of historical narrative' (The Sunday Times )

'Milton has a terrific eye for the kind of detail that can bring the past vividly to life off the page . . . restores an exotic lustre' (The Spectator )

'A magnificent piece of popular history' ((On NATHANIEL'S NUTMEG) Independent on Sunday )

'A grippingly told true adventure story' ((On BIG CHIEF ELIZABETH) Daily Mail )

'Milton's story could scarcely be more action-packed, and its setting and subsidiary characters are as fantastic as its events.' ((On WHITE GOLD) The Sunday Times )

Giles Milton’s narrative races along as he stitches together a story of heroism, sacrifice and misplaced zeal, painstakingly researched from contemporary writing and records’ ((On WHITE GOLD) Observer )

'Giles Milton has a gift for searching out odd and forgotten corners of history and turning them into bestselling books . . . this is not a dry history, but a full-blooded narrative closer in style to a historical novel than to an academic study.' (William Palmer (On WHITE GOLD), Literary Review )

‘Giles Milton . . . has crafted an inspiration for those of us who believe that history can be exciting and entertaining’ (The Times )

'An extraordinary story which few people will be at all familiar with . . . an exciting and sensational account of a really swash-buckling historical episode' (Philip Hensher (On WHITE GOLD), Spectator )

'Milton is a great storyteller . . . he conjures mood from dry parchment' (Express on Sunday )

Phillip Mansel, The Spectator
'Milton has gone where biographers of Ataturk and historians of Turkey have feared to tread. He has reproduced accounts by individual Armenian, Greek and foreign eye-witnesses, as well as British sailors' and consuls' accounts. It is a much needed corrective to official history.'

Customer Reviews

Histroy comes alive
Milton is the author of several engaging histories covering periods as diverse as the Crusades to the Age of Exploration. Ive read most of his other books and found them to be lively and engaging. Milton's style brings his diverse characters to life and his extensive use of personal accounts ensures his stories have the human element that is so often missing from history books. Paradise Lost is no different. Milton has interviewed people who were atcually present at the events he writes about. This gives his narrative a very personal feel.
Even though we know what will happen in the end, Milton manages to build suspense and kept me turning the pages. It is a tragic and heroic story about a part of the world that, I confess, I know only a little. I couldnt help but draw parallels between what happend in Smyrna in 1922 and the more recent human tradgedies in Rwanda, Bosnia and so on. It seems the international community still has a lesson to learn. That said, its not all tradegy, there are some great stories of herosim in there too.
This is not just a book for history buffs. Its for anyone who enjoys a human story, well told. I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in the period and the area. Its definetly going on my Christmas list for my dad and brother in law!

Now I can say I've read Milton's Paradise Lost
This book represents a bit of a change in direction for this author's histories. His other books have been biographies, too, of plucky Brits who are usually in foreign climes making a nuisance of themselves and getting away with it. This is the story of an EVENT. Further, it doesn't directly involve Britain or Brits other than tangentially in the form of Britain's meddlesome imperial ambitions and some princely 'Brits' who, actually, are third- or fourth-generation, the "Levantines".

The book is split into three parts: (1) Paradise, (2) Serpents in Paradise and (3) Paradise Lost. Part one sets the scene, part two goes into the background of the troubles that would later arise, and part three is the great event itself. I thought part one was a little boring -- Westerners lording it over and patronising the natives -- standard fare for these types of books, part two was a little disjointed and strangely unfulfilling and part three was gripping, really excellent. To elaborate on my verdict on part two, there is a missing year between the end of part two and the beginning of part three! We go from September 1921 to September 1922 in a blink! The Greeks are being defeated in Anatolia one minute and the next they're embarking on ships at Smyrna quay! If you are going to tell a story at all, then at least finish it more artfully than an abrupt severance.

Another slight problem I found with this book is that in the first two parts (where the background is explained and the scene is set) Milton concentrates far too much on the rich merchant families in their large Palladian villas. Other than a couple of exceptions (which prove the rule) his researches didn't manage to uncover any stories from an average Greek, Turk, Jew or Armenian (the Jews are hardly mentioned). I think their views would have been fascinating and enlightening. They would have offered a different perspective on the events that unfolded. But I can understand why the author quoted the Levantines the most. Their riches-to-rags tale was a sensational journey full of pathos, material loss and an overnight demotion in status.

I have to say that part three is just gripping. I think I've said that before, but it's worth saying again because it's so impossible to put the book down! I had never heard about this catastrophe before reading this book. I don't think I'd ever noticed Izmir (formerly Smyrna) on the map before. But Milton has made me interested in Turkish, Greek and Armenian history. He tells the story with great empathy and humanity. I also liked the ending very much. I really didn't see it coming as I fully expected that after all this time not a single building would be left standing let alone be inhabited by a direct descendent of one of those caught up in the great tragedy.

Giles Milton really is a fine writer and I look forward to reading his next book. Only docked a star because the first two parts were interesting but a little extraneous in places. I hate to admit it, but the build up was a little boring. But finally I've read Milton's Paradise Lost!

Smyrna...never again
A fascinating eye-opener at the history, peoples and events that led to the Smyrna catastrophy.

An exccedingly interesting and impartial tale of what may well have been the most cosmopolitan mutliethnic cities in the early 1900's . The vivid descriptions of the ilfe and the customs of all the people of Smyrna - the jewel of the Aegean - make you an involved obesrver, with a better understanding of the geopolitical interests, the miscalculations and the incompetence that led to the uprooting of hellenism in Asia Minor and the extinction of cosmopolitan Smyrna.