Privé Bosphorus

I expected a dry history and instead got something that reads almost like a travelogue — the sections moving from the Byzantine era into Ottoman times are the best part. The maps tracing the strait really help you follow how the shoreline shifted over the centuries.

The maps tracing the strait from the Greek and Byzantine eras through Ottoman times are worth the price alone, and the writing actually connects the geography to the history rather than just listing dates. Read it cover to cover on a slow week and kept flipping back to the photos.

I picked this up before a trip along the strait and it turned out to be the perfect companion. The sections covering the Persian and Roman eras gave me context I never would have gotten from a guidebook, and the writing moves quickly enough to read on a ferry ride.