

Agents of Empire: a dazzling history of the 16th‑century Mediterranean - diodorus
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jun/10/agents-of-empire-knights-corsairs-jesuits-spies-sixteenth-century-mediterranean-noel-malcolm-review

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elliptic
They take place in the 15th century, and are fictional (although they
chronicle many historical events), but I cannot recommend highly enough the
'House of Niccolo' series by Dorothy Dunnett to anyone who is interested in
the Mediterranean (and to a lesser extend, Scotland, the Baltic, etc) of that
era.

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aytekin
No idea why this is on the front page of Hacker News, but, if you like this
topic, I'd highly recommend White Castle by Orhan Pamuk.
[http://www.amazon.com/The-White-Castle-Vintage-
International...](http://www.amazon.com/The-White-Castle-Vintage-
International-ebook/dp/B003WUYRH2/ref=tmm_kin_title_0)

~~~
ticviking
Because on weekends anything that happens to pique the curiosity of hackers
has a much better chance to float above the usual mix of industry news,
release announcements, and startup hype.

