Turkey: A Short History

‘Stone’s irreverent narrative is a spur to read more about a forgotten power that is central to Europe’s history’ – The Financial Times ‘Arresting … authoritative and measured … Stone’s Turkey breaks the popular mould and introduces its readers to a place beyond their presumptions’ – The Sunday Times ‘A fanfare for modern Turkey and a vivid, provocative, often funny, always insightful account of how it came about. Stone pulls together his accomplishments as a philoturk, a philologist, controversialist and narrative historian to sweep his readers along a short crash course in Turkish origins, their history and current challenges. If you really don’t know why a portrait of Ataturk hangs in almost every shop in Turkey, read this book’ – The Guardian 'No one else writes history he does' Andrew Roberts A virtuoso performance historian Norman Stone, who has lived and worked in the country since 1997, this concise survey of Turkey’s relations with its immediate neighbours and the wider world from the 11th century to the present day. Stone deftly conducts the reader through this story, from the arrival of the Seljuks in Anatolia in the eleventh century to the modern republic applying for EU membership in the twenty-first. It is an historical account of epic proportions, featuring rapacious leaders such as Genghis Khan and Tamerlane through the glories of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent to Kemal Atatürk, the reforming genius and founder of modern Turkey. At its height, the Ottoman Empire was a superpower that brought Islam to the gates of Vienna. Stone examines the reasons for the empire’s long decline and shows how it gave birth to the modern Turkish republic, where east and west, religion and secularism, tradition and modernity still form vibrant elements of national identity. Norman Stone brilliantly draws out the larger themes of Turkey’s history, resulting in a book that is a masterly exposition of the historian’s craft.

About the Author :
Norman Stone is Director of the Turkish-Russian Centre at Bilkent University, Ankara. He was formerly Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford and also taught for many years at Cambridge University. Between 1987 and 1992 Stone worked as Margaret Thatcher’s Foreign Policiy Advisor. Norman Stone now lives in Oxford and Istanbul.

Review :
'Constantly exhilarating …. However many histories of Turkey you have read, you will never have read one as incisive, combative and sure-footed as this one' - Cornucopia 'Arresting … Stone’s Turkey breaks the popular mould and introduces its readers to a place beyond their presumptions' - Sunday Times 'Absolutely splendid … pithy, straightforward, superbly argued' - Country Life 'A fanfare for modern Turkey and a vivid, provocative, often funny, always insightful account of how it came about. Stone pulls together his accomplishments as a philoturk, a philologist, controversialist and narrative historian to sweep his readers along a short crash course in Turkish origins, their history and current challenges. If you really don’t know why a portrait of Ataturk hangs in almost every shop in Turkey, read this book' - Guardian 'Entertaining, insightful … Packing ten centuries into under 200 pages isn’t easy, but this book does it with aplomb' - History Revealed