Turkey Book Talk

Gönül Bozoğlu on “Museums, Emotion and Memory Culture: The Politics of the Past in Turkey” (Routledge). The book examines Istanbul's Panorama 1453 Museum and Ankara's Atatürk and War of Independence Museum to show how history in Turkey is often a battleground where contemporary identities clash for supremacy. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ott...

Murat Somer on “Return to Point Zero: The Turkish-Kurdish Question and How Politics and Ideas (Re)Make Empires, Nations and States” (SUNY Press). The book examines how Turkey's Kurdish question emerged decades ago and why that formative period is still crucial today. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman History books published by IB Tauris/B...

Dimitar Bechev on “Turkey Under Erdogan: How a Country Turned from Democracy and the West” (Yale University Press). The book gives a neat overview of how the country and President Erdogan came to where they are today, ahead of crucial elections scheduled for next year. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman History books published by IB Tauris...

Amy Marie Spangler on the great author Leyla Erbil (1931-2013) and her novel "A Strange Woman", first published in 1971. Spangler just co-translated a new English edition of the book, published by Deep Vellum, building on an original translation by Nermin Menemencioğlu. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman History books published by IB Tauri...

Murat Metinsoy on “The Power of the People: Everyday Resistance and Dissent in the Making of Modern Turkey, 1923-38” (Cambridge University Press). The book examines how ordinary people's reaction to Kemalist reforms shaped, modified or softened how those reforms were implemented on the ground. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman History boo...

Reuben Silverman on “Borderline Personalities: Lives at the Political, Social and Geographic Edges of Modern Turkey” (Libra Books). The book brings together pieces from his website largely focusing on figures from the political, social and cultural margins to illuminate broader themes of modern Turkish history.  Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/...

Sarah-Neel Smith on “Metrics of Modernity: Art and Development in Postwar Turkey” (University of California Press). The book paints a vivid portrait of Turkey's art world in the 1950s and how it reflected early Cold War ideas of national development, individual enterprise and global integration. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman History b...

Suat Kınıklıoğlu on his report “Eurasianism in Turkey”, published by the German Institute for International and Security Affairs' Centre for Applied Turkey Studies. The report examines the influence of Turkish-style Eurasianism, a worldview favouring Ankara's break from Nato in favour of strategic alignment with Russia and/or China. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 35% di...

Birol Başkan on “The Nation or the Ummah: Islamism and Turkish Foreign Policy” (SUNY Press), co-written with Ömer Taşpınar. The book examines Turkey's foreign policy during the Arab Spring era, when Ankara threw its weight behind protest movements seeking to overthrow established regimes around the Middle East. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/O...

Andrea Lemieux on “The Essential Guide to Turkish Wine”, covering the regions, grapes and history of winemaking in Turkey, as well as the political and economic challenges facing producers in the country today. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman History books published by IB Tauris/Bloomsbury, transcripts of every interview, transcripts of...

Noah Amir Arjomand on “Fixing Stories: Local Newsmaking and International Media in Turkey and Syria" (Cambridge University Press). The book is a detailed study of the role of fixers - locals who intermediate between journalists and sources - in international coverage on Turkey and Syria. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman History books pub...

York Norman on “Celal Nuri: Young Turk Modernizer and Muslim Nationalist” (IB Tauris/Bloomsbury). The book examines the life of Celal Nuri, a journalist and politician whose career spanned the late Ottoman and early republican periods. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman History books published by IB Tauris/Bloomsbury, transcripts of every...

Daniel-Joseph MacArthur-Seal on “Britain's Levantine Empire, 1914-1923” (Oxford University Press). The book examines British military occupation in Istanbul, Salonica and Alexandria through the letters, diaries and memoirs of servicemen during and after the First World War. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman History books published by IB T...

Dilek Kurban, Max Weber postdoctoral fellow at the European University Institute and adjunct faculty at the Hertie School in Berlin, on “Limits of Supranational Justice: The European Court of Human Rights and Turkey’s Kurdish Conflict” (Cambridge University Press). Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman History books published by IB Tauris/Blo...

Hakan Özoğlu on “The Decline of the Ottoman Empire and the Rise of the Turkish Republic: Observations of an American Diplomat, 1919-1927” (Edinburgh University Press). The book examines the work of Admiral Mark Bristol, US high commissioner in Istanbul as the Ottoman Empire collapsed and the Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 35% disc...

Çiğdem Oğuz on “Moral Crisis in the Ottoman Empire: Society, Politics and Gender during WWI” (IB Tauris/Bloomsbury). The book examines debates about morality in the late Ottoman era, when mounting European cultural influence triggered anxiety about the loss of traditional religious values. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 30% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman History books p...

Murat R. Siviloğlu on “The Emergence of Public Opinion: State and Society in the Late Ottoman Empire” (Cambridge University Press). The book argues that Ottoman society developed a realm of “public opinion” that had a crucial effect on political developments in the late 19th century. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 30% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman History books publish...

Ramazan Aras on “The Wall: The Making and Unmaking of the Turkish-Syrian Border” (Palgrave Macmillan). The book examines the effect on local Kurdish communities of the foundation of the Turkey-Syria border in 1923 and its later hardening, leading most recently to the building of a security wall along its length. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 30% discount on all Turkey/...

Maureen Freely discusses the eventful life of leftist woman novelist Suat Derviş (1904-1972), as well as her recently published translation of Derviş's “In the Shadow of the Yalı” (Other Press). Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 30% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman History books published by IB Tauris/Bloomsbury, transcripts of every interview, transcripts of the whole archi...

Marc David Baer on “The Ottomans: Khans, Caesars and Caliphs” (Basic Books). The book argues for the Ottoman Empire as an inseparable part of European history - not as antithesis of the Christian West but as an intimate and active participant in the continent's shifting cultural and political tides. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 30% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman Histo...

Federico Donelli on “Turkey in Africa: Turkey's Strategic Involvement in Sub-Saharan Africa” (IB Tauris/Bloomsbury). The book looks at Ankara's bid to boost its diplomatic, cultural, economic and security influence in Africa, the effects it has had on the ground, and what to expect in the coming years. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 30% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman Hi...

Yonca Köksal on “The Ottoman Empire in the Tanzimat Era: Provincial Perspectives from Ankara to Edirne” (Routledge). The book compares the empire's modernising, centralising reforms of the 19th century in the Balkan province of Edirne and the central Anatolian province of Ankara. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk . Members get a 30% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman History books published...

Giancarlo Casale on “Prisoner of the Infidels: The Memoir of an Ottoman Muslim in 17th Century Europe” (UC Press). Casale edited and translated the book, the first English-language edition of Osman of Timişoara's fascinating memoir describing his years as prisoner and slave in the Habsburg Empire from 1688 to 1699. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk . Members get a 30% discount on all Tur...

Soner Çağaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, on “A Sultan in Autumn: Erdogan Faces Turkey's Uncontrollable Forces” (IB Tauris/Bloomsbury). The book describes the myriad challenges facing the Turkish president at home and abroad. Support Turkey Book Talk by becoming a member . Members get a 30% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman History book...

Natalie Rothman on “The Dragoman Renaissance: Diplomatic Interpreters and the Routes of Orientalism” (Cornell University Press). The book shows how Istanbul-based translator-interpreters were key in shaping outside understanding of the Ottoman Empire, as well as in the Ottoman elites' diplomatic moves. Support Turkey Book Talk by becoming a member . Members get a 30% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman...