The Battle of Lepanto in 1571 dominates perceptions of naval warfare in the early modern Mediterranean world. In this book the author moves beyond this one battle to examine the conduct and nature of the conflict at sea between the Spanish and Ottomans in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The book begins with a useful narrative overview of the major campaigns and battles in the region. The strategies and political considerations that faced both sides are also considered in detail. Both the Habsburgs and Ottomans relied extensively on contributions from their empires and private enterprise to sustain their holy war. The book investigates the role of piracy by North African corsairs and crusading Christian religious orders, such as the Hospitaller Knights of Malta. Differences between fighting at sea in the Mediterranean and Atlantic are also examined. The real strength of the volume lies in the chapters that explore galley warfare in the Mediterranean. Williams provides a meticulous and engaging analysis of the issues and complexities of setting out, maintaining, manning and utilising oared warships. He argues that the lack of a decisive victory at sea can be seen in the manner in which the war was played out between two sides that possessed ‘either too few good galleys or too many bad ones'. The author makes use of an impressive range of Spanish archives and there are a number of useful images. The volume would have benefitted by the addition of some maps of the Mediterranean region. Overall, this book has much to recommend it and furthers our understanding of the clash between the Spanish and Ottoman empires in the early modern period.