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Title: The Emergence of Modern Turkey by Bernard Lewis ISBN: 0-19-513460-5 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $28.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.75 (12 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A clearly-written analysis of Turkey since 1800
Comment: Bernard Lewis' books stand like a beacon in the great sea of dull academic literature on the Middle East. They're readable, thorough, focused, and non-judgemental, and most of them have already become classics.
Lewis' "The Emergence of Modern Turkey" is usually regarded as the standard book on the subject. It came out in 1960 and has been in print for forty years. This is the updated third edition. The book is divided into two parts. Part I ("The Stage of Emergence") is a straight-forward narrative of politics in the Turkish "heartland" (i.e., Turkey proper) from the 18th century to the Kemalist republic. The chapters are ordered chronologically, such as "The Impact of the West" (early 19th century), "The Ottoman Reform" (c. 1850 - c. 1890), etc.
Part II ("Aspects of Change") is organized thematically and addresses social themes alongside political ones. "Community and Nation", "Religion and Government," and "Elite and Class" are especially good. Here, Lewis analyses minority experiences and the impact of ideas, such as Pan-Islamism, laicism, and Ottomanism.
Lewis does relegate the Ottoman imperial lands to the sidelines, but, after all, this is a history of Turkey, not a history of the empire.
The book has a few drawbacks. First, as a reviewer below objected -- reasonably, I think -- Lewis doesn't say much about the Armenian genocides of 1894-96, 1906, and 1915. None of them get more than a paragraph's mention, in fact. While, like most recent historians of the Middle East, Lewis tries to accentuate the positive asoects of Turkish/Ottoman history -- which is certainly commendable -- there's no excuse for ignoring that history's darker side.
All in all, though, this is a classic. Lewis' other great books also are worth finding, especially his acclaimed "The Jews of Islam" and "The Muslim Discovery of Europe."
Rating: 3
Summary: Outdated
Comment: This book was long considered the classic description of the recent history of Turkey. The author has a beautiful writing style, and the book is a pleasure to read. It is by now fairly outdated, however, and the more recent history of Turkey provides reason to question some of Lewis's assumptions.
The book has largely been superseded by Erich Jan Zurcher's "A Modern History of Turkey", also available from Amazon, which can be seen as more reliable and covering issues which Lewis neglects. Professor Zurcher, of the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, has written an appreciative but nonetheless insightful commentary of the Lewis book. Readers considering purchasing the Lewis book would do well to read this commentary beforehand.
Rating: 5
Summary: Dont listen to Robert Marzian
Comment: First of all the book is written, told, and presented beautifully. Many of the reviewers see that also, except a certain Robert Marzian. I am a person that has done research on different languages and have seen certain traits in names that automatically trace an individual to the country their from or are related to.
In Armenia, many of the people have the suffix -ian at the end of their names/last names. And surprise! No wonder mr marzIAN hates this book :)
Please people, read a book and judge it objectivly! As for you mr Marzian, you need to stop being RACIST!
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Title: Ataturk: The Biography of the Founder of Modern Turkey by Andrew Mango ISBN: 158567334X Publisher: Overlook Press Pub. Date: 01 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: Crescent and Star: Turkey Between Two Worlds by Stephen Kinzer ISBN: 0374528667 Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux Pub. Date: 04 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Turkey: A Modern History by Erik J. Zurcher ISBN: 1860642225 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 01 January, 1998 List Price(USD): $24.50 |
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Title: Istanbul and the Civilization of the Ottoman Empire by Bernard Lewis ISBN: 0806110600 Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press Pub. Date: 01 February, 1989 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: The Arabs in History by Bernard Lewis ISBN: 0192803107 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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