Constantinople: City of the World's Desire, 1453 1924 - by Philip Mansel

This book traces the dynamic relationship between the cosmopolitan capital of Constantinople—"the city of the world’s desire"—and its ruling dynasty. In 1453, Mehmed the Conqueror rode into the city on a white horse, marking the start of an Ottoman legacy that would endure until 1924, when the last Caliph hastily boarded the Orient Express.