The goal of this book is to give a vivid and accurate account of the capture of Constantinople and the destruction of the Greek empire. In order to make the story intelligible and to explain its significance writer has given a summary of the history of the empire between the Latin conquest in 1204 and the capture of the city in 1453, and has traced the progress during the same period of the race which succeeded in destroying the empire and in replacing the Greeks as the possessors of New Rome.

Sir Edwin Pears was a British barrister, author and historian. He lived in Constantinople for about forty years and he is also known for his book Turkey and its People.