I am looking for a 21st Century history of Venice. The John Julius Norwich one I am reading is horribly outdated with terms and sensibilities strait out of the mid-century British aristocracy.

I am reading A History of Venice from the 1970s, and it uses the term, "the Orient," all the time. I was wondering, when that term went out of favor for historians?

The author suggests that between the Ottoman conquest of the Mamluke Sultanate in the early 1500s and Napoleon's invasion of Egypt in the 1790s that Arabic culture was effectively dead.

Can anybody recommend a book that covers Arabic literature in the Levant during the Ottoman Empire? The anthology I found in the local library washed its hands of Ottoman Arabic literature completely.

And that is excluding spending 6 paragraphs talking about factionalism between different Zionist groups.

Who discovered queen bees?

Could anyone recommend a modern history of Venice? I am reading John Julius Norwich's history, but it is a bit aged (ie uses the blanket term Saracens for all Muslims during the Crusades), and feels like it lacks objectivity on the subject.

Also if any could suggest a book on Eastern Mediterranean diplomacy and spycraft of the Renaissance I would appreciate the suggestion.

Could anyone recommend a book about Renaissance Eastern Mediterranean diplomacy and spycraft? I have recently read Agents of Empire by Noel Malcolm(an excellent book especially if you are interested in the role of Venetian subjects in the Balkans in Eastern Mediterranean politics), and would like to know more.

Oh boy. I haven't read Osman's Dream in like 15 years. Thanks for reminding me about it.

I have been getting more interested in the 18th Century Ottoman Empire specifically. The histories I have read devoted about 6 pages to Ahmed III then skip directly to the Napoleonic Wars. Does anyone know a book that explores that era in depth?

During Protestant Reformation wars, if an army found Bibles with books that weren't canon to their version what would they do with the books?

Around what period did the Ottoman Empire start deploying permanent embassies to other countries, as opposed to temporary diplomats with specific mandates?

Does anyone know a good book about the diplomacy, spying, and double dealing going on in the Renaissance Mediterranean. Preferably something that talks about the Italian city-states' relationship with the Ottoman Empire.

Actually I did mean the obvious stuff. I am not good at eyeballing changes in a ship's lines, and the Wikipedia is rather vague on the evolution. Thank you for your consideration.

What are the differences between a 16th Century Galleon, and an 18th Century Ship of the Line?

Fun fact for the thread about Abdul Hamid, is that he got so paranoid about assassination that he was almost constantly armed.

I have seen a lot of modern representations of the galleass with round forecastles, were round forecastles or square forecastles more common on galleasses?

What were the structural changes between the High Middle Ages Mediterranean Galleys and Early Modern Galleys/Galleasses?