The Ottoman Empire ruled the near East, dominated the Mediterranean, and terrorized Europe for centuries. However, its origins are obscure. The Beginnings of the Ottoman Empire illuminates the founding of the Empire, drawing on Turkish, Greek, Arabic, and Latin sources as well as coins, buildings, and topographic evidence. Clive Foss takes the reader through the rugged homeland of Osman, the founder of the Ottomans, placing his achievement in the context of his more powerful neighbours, most notably the once mighty Byzantine Empire, then in the terminal stages of its decline. Foss then charts the progress of Osman's son Orhan, until the fateful moment in 1354 when his forces crossed into Europe and began their spectacular conquests.

This book provides a detailed history of the establishment and early growth of the Ottoman Empire. Foss relates the military, economic, and cultural developments of the time to the political and physical geography of the Ottoman homeland, and especially its relations to the declining Byzantine Empire.

The strength of this book is not in its conclusions but in its approach, particularly its focus on geographical landscape as a physical and conceptual site of historical investigation and study. This approach could prove inspirational for how we deal with other historical periods...it is innovative and evocative in its approach and a good addition to the interdisciplinary scholarship on the Ottoman-Byzantine world.