The Ottoman Empire (Cultures of the Past) [Library Binding]

Adriane Ruggiero (Author)

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Library Binding: 80 pages
• Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Children's Books (October 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761414940
• ISBN-13: 978-0761414940
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 8.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,098,953 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Islamic culture of the great Ottoman Empire, September 10, 2003

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Ottoman Empire (Cultures of the Past) (Library Binding)

There is a map showing the extent of the Ottoman Empire around 1600 in this Cultures of the Past volume that rather surprised me. I have often made the argument that the historical figure of Vlad the Impaler stood the advance of the Islamic forces in Eastern Europe the same way El Cid did in Spain, but somehow never really made the connection that the Ottoman Empire was, at its height, larger than the Byzantine Empire than it replaced. Of course, in the world today the idea of a unified Muslim entity is a very real possibility, which makes Adriane Ruggiero's study of "The Ottoman Empire" of more than passing interest.

The volume is divided into five chapters, with the emphasis much more on the culture than the history of the Ottoman Empire: (1) From Nomads to Sultans traces the history of the Ottomans from when the Seljuk Turks entered Anatolia through the rise and decline of the empire and the eventual birth of the nation of Turkey. The section on the fall of Constantinople, then the greatest city in Europe, is especially interesting. (2) The Age of Suleyman the Magnificent covers the reign of Suleyman I from 1520 to 1566, which was the empire's period of greatest power and glory. Ruggiero talks about the Sultan's place, the great mosque, and the life of the court in terms of not only trade and commerce but also poetry and literature. (3) The Turks and Islam provides a concise look at the religion of the Ottomans, detailing the key beliefs of Islam including the Five Pillars. (4) Shpaing the Empire extends that belief system to the society, with the Sultan at the center but the idea of One Empire, One Sultan, Many Peoples. (5) The Ottoman Influence Lives On examines the legacy of the Ottomans in terms of the tradition of arts and crafts, woven carpets, calligraphy, ceramics, and miniature paintings.

Young readers will find this an informative volume, and the division of material into these give chapters helps if they are researching a particlar aspect of the Ottoman Empire. There are also informative sidebars on topics such as Halide Edib, the famous Turkish writer, nationalist, and feminist, and the Islamic mysticism of Sufism. The book is illustrated with mostly historic artwork in full color, which looks really nice on this slick paper. Other titles in the Cultures of the Past series look at various civilizations from the Ancient African Kingdom of Kush to the Vikings. However, as a general rule the lesser known cultures such as India's Gupta Dynasty and the Kingdom of Benin in West Africa tends to be more interesting than those that are the focus on extended treatment in your standard history textbook, such as the Ancient Greeks, the Italian Renaissance, and Victorian England.