Customer Reviews

The Nature of the Early Ottoman State (Suny Series in the Social and Economic History of the Middle East)

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It's well known how difficult it is to document the beginnings. The lack of both historical records and, apparently, interest for the subject resulted in few, controversial, and highly speculative works about the beginning of the Ottoman Empire. In this work, Lowry aims at correcting prior theses about the nature of the early Ottoman state--mainly, Wittek's "Gazi Thesis" as exposed in "The Rise of the Ottoman Empire." Lowry is convincing in advancing his own thesis, despite being: brief, supported by the same scarce historical records, and still highly speculative. The main point of Lowry's thesis is that the early Ottomans (of the 14th and 15th centuries) were not advancing westward through religious zeal (which seems to be Wittek's point) but by co-opting the local (Christian) aristocracies and accommodating the peasantry (istimalet). His arguments sound logical and the evidence as presented comes to support well his points. Not so clear though is whether or not all existing evidence supports or at least doesn't contradict Lowry's thesis. Also, more details, preferably historical, about the transformation of the Ottoman state from its early stage (14th/15th century) to the next stage (16th century onward) would have been very helpful in placing Lowry's thesis in a historical continuum and thus strengthen his argument.

An excellent book. Based on careful research and facts using a multitude of sources. Highly recommended.

Heath lowry was at the center of one of teh biggest academic scanals in the last 20 years when it tuned out that after 20 years of workign for only Turkish government funded insitutions, the turksih goverment paid to have a chair at princeton with Lowry ath the head. Lowry who was already infamous as a genocide denier was soon fired from this position (see various chroinicle of higher education stories on this scandal).

Lowry is a mouthpiece for the Turkish govenrment -- and not a very good one.

look a the previous reviewer of this volume:
"the main point of Lowry's thesis is that the early Ottomans (of the 14th and 15th centuries) were not advancing westward through religious zeal (which seems to be Wittek's point) but by co-opting the local (Christian) aristocracies and accommodating the peasantry (istimalet). "

no kidding. Lowry, who for 12 years headed a insitution in Washington which was a de facto lobbying arm of the Turkish foreign ministry, developes a convenient theseis, which is at variance with extant primary source Ottoman documents AND the entire body of Ottoman scholars suggesting that the conquest was benign. what a surprise.

here is a quote frome one of the Chronical storeis on the Lowry scandal:
<In an odd 1990 incident, a memo written by Dr. Lowry to the Turkish ambassador fell out of a letter from the diplomat to scholar Robert Jay Lifton, who has written about the Holocaust and the survivors of Hiroshima.

The memo advised the ambassador how to refute several mentions of the Armenian genocide in a book by Dr. Lifton entitled "The Nazi Doctors" published four years before.

"It seemed so bizarre and extreme," said Dr. Lifton in an interview with The Packet.

"Heath Lowry was an American consultant to the Turkish government in the denial ... that murderers were not really murderers, that victims were not really killed.">