Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A splendid biography of a 20th Century Titan, August 27, 1999
By A Customer
Ataturk is, for most Westerners, the Unknown Titan of the Twentieth Century - towering over most of the centuries leaders and up there in the Pantheon with Churchill, de Gaulle, Roosevelt and Truman. Ataturk's vision, courage and generosity of spirit would have marked him out as exceptional in any period, but his achievement in creating a new, modern, forward-looking nation on the ruins of a corruption and strife-ridden empire that had finally collapsed after centuries of decline is unprecedented. Ataturk - Mustapha Kemal - did not just remake Turkey, giving it new hopes, new visions and new liberties, - even a new alphabet - but he remade himself in the process, coping with personal weaknesses and failings and never letting them master him. Tough, courageous, ruthless when necessary, Ataturk nevertheless balanced these qualities with compassion and humanity. Like many great soldiers turned politicians he never lost sight of the fact that yesterday's enemy must be tomorrow's friend if the mistakes of the past are not to be perpetuated. This masterly biography covers every aspect of Ataturk's life in detail and is the ideal introduction for the open-minded Westerner eager to understand modern Turkey and its heroic people. I first read it in 1967 and it remained as an inspiration for me until I had the privilege and pleasure of living and working in Turkey a quarter century later. I then reread it with even greater delight and was able to make a personal pilgrimage to Ataturk's severe and dignified mausoleum (which he would probably never have wanted) in Ankara. Ataturk's portrait hangs in my study and this book has a place of honour on my shelves - if you love history and seek personal inspiration then get it at all costs!
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding book worthy of an epic motion picture, March 28, 2000
At 9:05 AM on each November 10th, all the inhabitants of Turkey stop their worldly activities and observe a few minutes of silence. They are observing the death of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey, in 1938. Ataturk was a man larger than life. After the destruction of the Ottoman Empire during WWI he defeated western European powers bent on carving up the spoils for themselves, and formed the new Turkish Republic in 1923. Ataturk was directly responsible for the disaster inflicted on British and Australian forces at Gallipoli, dramatized in the 1981 Australian motion picture. He also fought unsuccessfully against T. E. Lawrence and his Arabs. After forming the new Turkey, he completely reformed its society, replacing the arabic alphabet with latin, abolishing both polygamy and the fez, and installing a secular government. Lord Kinross' masterful book captures the broad scope and the thrilling details of the life of this amazing man and demonstrates his influence on the 20th century. Ataturk is one of the best biographies ever written, about one of the most interesting men in history.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing,Heroic,Legendary, June 1, 2001
Unfortunately we know very little about the history of Modern Turkey and the Turkish people in general. I would even say all we know is unsubtantiated ...in general against Turks. This wonderful book of outstanding historian Lord Kinross is telling the real story behind the modern Turkey and the avant-guard philosophical foundations that created this modern republic out of ashes of a country which was torn off completely by wars followed one another. This book is clearly proving us that Ataturk is not only the most important political leader of our century but also may be some centuries back and some centuries forward yet to come. Any person from the developed Western societies who are serious about learning something about a nobel nation such as Turks and their genius humanitarian leader Ataturk, this is the book to read.
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