SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE
A SUNDAY TIMES PAPERBACK OF THE YEAR
‘Magnificent . . . Important and hugely readable’ William Dalrymple, Financial Times
‘A wildly ambitious and entertainingly lurid history’ James Barr, The Times
‘A panoramic and thought-provoking account’ Guardian
‘A winning portrait of seven centuries of empire, teeming with life and colour’ Sunday Times
‘Superb, gripping and refreshing’ Simon Sebag Montefiore
‘Sweeping, colorful, and rich in extraordinary characters’ Tom Holland
The major new history of a diverse empire that straddled East and West.
The Ottoman Empire has long been depicted as the Islamic, Asian antithesis of the Christian, European West, when in reality, their multiethnic, multilingual, and multireligious domain reached deep into Europe’s heart. Recounting their remarkable rise to a world empire, Marc David Baer traces their debts to their Turkish, Mongolian, Islamic and Byzantine heritage. Upending Western accounts of the Renaissance, the Age of Exploration and the Reformation, The Ottomans is a magisterial portrait that vividly redefines the dynasty’s enduring impact on Europe and the world.
A SUNDAY TIMES PAPERBACK OF THE YEAR
‘Magnificent . . . Important and hugely readable’ William Dalrymple, Financial Times
‘A wildly ambitious and entertainingly lurid history’ James Barr, The Times
‘A panoramic and thought-provoking account’ Guardian
‘A winning portrait of seven centuries of empire, teeming with life and colour’ Sunday Times
‘Superb, gripping and refreshing’ Simon Sebag Montefiore
‘Sweeping, colorful, and rich in extraordinary characters’ Tom Holland
The major new history of a diverse empire that straddled East and West.
The Ottoman Empire has long been depicted as the Islamic, Asian antithesis of the Christian, European West, when in reality, their multiethnic, multilingual, and multireligious domain reached deep into Europe’s heart. Recounting their remarkable rise to a world empire, Marc David Baer traces their debts to their Turkish, Mongolian, Islamic and Byzantine heritage. Upending Western accounts of the Renaissance, the Age of Exploration and the Reformation, The Ottomans is a magisterial portrait that vividly redefines the dynasty’s enduring impact on Europe and the world.
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Reviews
A book as sweeping, colorful, and rich in extraordinary characters as the empire which it describes
A compellingly readable account of one of the great world empires from its origins in thirteenth century to modern times ... Blending the sacred and the profane, the social and the political, the sublime and the absurd, Baer brings his subject to life in rich vignettes. An outstanding book
Marc David Baer's The Ottomans is a scintillating and brilliantly panoramic account of the history of the Ottoman empire, from its genesis to its dissolution ... It challenges and transforms how we think of 'East' and 'West,' 'Enlightenment,' and 'modernity,' and directly confronts the horrors as well as the achievements of Ottoman rule
Baer's colourful, readable book is informed by all the newest research on his massive subject. In showing how an epic of universal empire, conquest and toleration turned into the drama of nationalism, crisis, and genocide, he gives us not only an expansive history of the Ottomans, but an expanded history of Europe.
Expertly captures the undercurrents of Ottoman history ... There's no study more masterful
A superb, gripping and refreshing new history - finely written and filled with fascinating characters and analysis - that places the dynasty where it belongs: at the centre of European history
A thrilling history of one of the world's largest empires
Provocative and engaging, this book is a refreshing new study of the Ottoman Empire and its legacy . . . Populated by vivid characters and descriptions of events this book is well-paced, rich and beautifully executed. Essential reading not only for those interested in the history of the Middle East, but also for those interested more broadly in the history of Europe, the history of Empire and the politics of genocide
A wildly ambitious and entertainingly lurid history
A winning portrait of seven centuries of empire, teeming with life and colour, human interest and oddity, cruelty and oppression mixed with pleasure, benevolence and great artistic beauty
Highly readable . . . Baer's fine book gives a panoramic and thought-provoking account of over half a millennium of Ottoman and - it now goes without saying - European history
An epic, sweeping history of the Ottoman Empire . . . It's absolutely fabulous
[Baer's] enlightening forays into the side alleys of Ottoman history make this book very enjoyable . . . splendid
Forceful history
A fuller, fresher view of the dynasty that ruled an empire for 500 years and helped shape the West . . . A major achievement
Magnificent . . . Like a swift Ottoman caique cutting through the Sweet Waters of Asia, Baer's taut prose splices stereotypes and makes us think twice about long-held assumptions . . . [An] important and hugely readable book - a model of well-written, accessible scholarship
[A] fascinating, thought-provoking book that wears its learning lightly. It asks us not only to rethink the Ottomans, but also to consider what exactly constitutes being European.
Baer's portrait teems with life and colour