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85 of 89 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Why did Constantinople get the works ?, December 25, 1999
This review is from: Ottoman Centuries (Paperback)
Covering 622 years of history in exactly that many pages is no joke, especially when your subject is as vast as the Ottoman Empire, that began with Osman in the year 1300 and shuffled off the record in 1923, when the man who became known as Ataturk shipped the last sultan into exile. To write about so much history is necessarily to choose certain topics to the detriment of others. Lord Kinross made his choices, and though I will argue with him over this and that, the result is certainly a splendid book, which must be called the classic history of the Ottoman Empire---for lay readers. Here are no compilations of dry statistics, no detailed analyses of agricultural production or shipbuilding techniques to confound the layman. Not a single footnote "mars" the pages, nor are references to other writers more than a handful. Kinross inserts few dates to confuse the reader, though I could have used some more enlightening in this direction. His prose is wonderfully smooth, his passage from one topic to the next, fluid. He brings up the big picture again and again, even providing an excellent summary of his ideas in the epilogue. Maps and interesting engravings pepper the pages. I looked forward to reading this book for years: I was not disappointed. However, certain caveats must be mentioned. First and foremost, this is a history that seems to have been written on English and French sources only. Thus, while I can definitely attest to its readability, I can't be sure of its accuracy. Second, Kinross' choice of subject is strictly limited. He portrays the succession of sultans, from the dynamic first ten, to the usually poor-performing, last twenty-five. He covers the various wars, rebellions, and coups in clear, graphic prose and he concentrates on the administrative patterns of the different periods of the Empire, rightly praising the early network of Christian-born officials that brought the standard of government to a level far beyond anything pertaining in Europe at the time---creating such an atmosphere that for centuries, European peasants preferred to be ruled by the Ottomans than by their own, more grasping, unpredictable rulers. Diplomacy and the many treaties entered into over the years also get intelligent treatment, and an occasional foray is made into economic development. There is still a great deal missing. If you are interested in general Ottoman culture, literature and the arts, religion, or daily life, this is not the book for you, these subjects are hardly touched. Other areas too are strangely neglected---discussion of the Turkish rule in North Africa and Asia is left out in favor of Europe. The building of the Suez Canal is mentioned only in passing. Pan-Turkism rates only a couple small paragraphs and names such as Ziya Gokalp do not appear. World War I, Gallipoli, the fighting in Mesopotamia, etc. are all glossed over with incredible speed. However, as I said before, with such a vast topic to cover, the author had to make some choices and I am just quibbling about them. I strongly recommend this excellent book to any reader wishing a solid, well-organized, readable history of the Ottoman Empire, one of the most fascinating (and long lasting) formations of human history. And by the way, you WILL learn why Constantinople got the works.
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36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding!, May 1, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Ottoman Centuries (Paperback)
Kinross has written an outstanding survey of the Ottoman Empire. He traces the history of the Empire starting with its great founder Osman, through its' highest glory at the time of its two greatest sons Mehmed The Conqueror and Suleiman The Magnificant and finally to its fall in the early 20th century. The book evolves around the sultans and thus the story is told mostly as the story of the Empire's rulers and their policies or lack thereof. However, by chosing this approach Kinross has managed to accomplish the monumental task of covering 600 years of history in one extremely interesting volume. It is therefore an excellent introduction to the subject and a good starting point for those interested in the Turkish empire. In many ways this book is similar to Norwich's excellent Byzantine Trilogy and fans of Norwich will also like this book.
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36 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Well-written, terribly researched., March 16, 2005
This review is from: Ottoman Centuries (Paperback)
This was the first book about Ottoman History I ever read. Having now read litterally hundreds of books about the subject, I re-read Kinross and have some comments: - Kinross has an engaging style, and this book may ignite an interest in Ottoman history in readers, but only for the EARLY history of the empire, which is clearly where Kinross' interests lie. Even then he doesn't seem to be able to distinguish between history and legend, and a rich and dynamic history is reduced to an Oriental soap opera. His account of the decline is depressing, reflective of Victorian bigotry and bias, and innaccurate and condescending to the point of being mildly insulting. - Kinross uses NO Ottoman or Turkish sources whatsoever, but then he doesn't really use anything written later than the 19th c. - He brushes over the 19th c, and subscribes to the 19th c British static view of imperial decay - the Ottomans just sat around declining and having things done to it. In reality, the 19th c is one of the most interesting periods of Ottoman history, wherin the empire was forced to respond to th impact of European capitalism and imperialism. Really dynamic and creative reform programs were instituted with the result that the Ottomans at the turn of the 20th c were incalculably stronger than they were at the turn of the 18th. The Tanzimat is given short shrift as an insincere effort to please the powers and is portrayed as the idea of the British Ambassador (!) and the Hamidiyan era is portrayed as a period of retrenchment, fanaticism, and decadence, when in reality Abdul Hamid, albeit with oppressively autocratic means, enormously modernized the empire and created the school system that educated later reformers including Ataturk. Kinross is totally ignorant of intellectual trends in the Ottoman Empire and their interplay with other Muslim lands and the West. If this is your first Ottoman history book, I would read it up until the death of Suleyman and then drop it. I am not aware of a more modern and accurate general survey of the same type that is not too dry and academic for the casual reader, but I would highly recommend Selim Deringil's "The Well-Protected Domains" to get a feel of the self-perception of the Ottomans in the late 19th c.
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