Owens_1985-Review_Beeching_GalleysatLepanto.pdf

Review Author(s): J. B. Owens Review by: J. B. Owens Source: The Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 16, No. 1 (Spring, 1985), p. 153 Published by: Sixteenth Century Journal Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2540949 Accessed: 07-06-2016 17:55 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. Sixteenth Century Journal is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Sixteenth Century Journal This content downloaded from 132.178.94.23 on Tue, 07 Jun 2016 17:55:31 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Book Reviews 153 The Galleys at Lepanto. Jack Beeching. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1983. 267 pp. $17.95. Despite being a History Book Club selection, Beeching's study of the great clash of Christian and Muslim fleets at Lepanto might be neglected by many scholars of the period. Maybe there are sound reasons for such neglect. Experts will note flaws; Beeching sometimes presents as fact notions discredited by modern scholarship. A look at his inadequate selected bibliography perhaps reveals the origin of such difficulties. He does not appear to know important recent work or major surveys of the literature which would have brought him up-to-date. For examples of the latter, on the Ottoman Empire, neither Halil Inalcik (1973) nor Stanford J. Shaw (1976) is listed; on Spain, John Lynch (1964, now revised) and Stanley G. Payne (1973) were left out as was Denis Mack Smith (1968) on Sicily; and most surprising is the absence of Frederic C. Lane's masterful history of Venice (1973) or of any other work by this great expert on many of the topics Beeching discusses. Lack of an academic appointment and direct, continuous contact with a major research library are serious problems for a writer who wishes to produce credible history. However, since the gaps which specialists on any of the many topics Beeching discusses will note are unimportant beside what he accomplishes, his book should not be missed. Beeching has substantial experience writing history, and he has called upon his skills to weave together considerations of economic and geographic realities, technical and military matters, the impact of individual interests, and the cultural role of religion into a moving narrative. The various factors which influenced both the outcome of the clash at Lepanto as well as the military and political developments which led to the battle have been skillfully weighed and presented by an intellect well prepared for the task. For reasons of affection and health, Beeching has lived a long time in the Mediterranean among most of the peoples whose conflicts and contacts are the meat of this book. While young, he received and was damaged by intense combat experience in a terrible war. And he has long been a keen observer of political affairs. There are three aspects of the book which deserve particular attention. Beeching concentrates on a series of unusual people who directed events, and readers interested in the effect of personality on human affairs will find fascinating his discussion of individuals as diverse as San Francisco de Borja and Selim the Sot. In a century like ours, Beeching's explorations of the effects of cruelty in war and administration are of tremendous value. Finally, since considerations of economic and social factors have tended to dominate scholarship on Mediterranean history, Beeching's recovery of religious beliefs and institutions as important factors is a significant contribution; his insights into the nature of Islam and of the Catholic Reformation are provocative. In many ways, this focus on religion in human culture is the culmination of a growing interest one can see in Beeching's major recent works The Chinese Opium Wars (1975) and An Open Path: Christian Missionaries, 1515-1914 (1979). It would be foolish to conclude without adding that the author is an excellent writer. Beeching is a widely known English poet and novelist; of his novels, The Dakota Project (1968) and Death of a Terrorist (1981) are likely to interest Americans most. A great humanist, he has long wanted to write a poem to express his feelings about faith and war in human affairs. If he cannot get it right in verse, this book will be an ade- quate substitute. The publisher should make The Galleys atLepanto available in paperback so that it can be used in undergraduate classes. J. B. Owens Idaho State University This content downloaded from 132.178.94.23 on Tue, 07 Jun 2016 17:55:31 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms