Customer Reviews

The Ottoman Turks: An Introductory History to 1923

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is probably the best overall history of the Ottomans around. A thorough researcher and lucid writer, McCarthy focuses on family life and health and disease in the Ottoman Empire as well as the diplomatic, military and political history of the empire. This book is a must for anyone interested in the history of Turkey, the eastern Mediterranean, or Caucuses.

This book provides a fabulous overview of the Ottoman Empire. I especially appreciate McCarthy's attention to matters that are often not discussed in history books (at least in a serious way), such as family life and daily life. I feel that sometimes McCarthy takes an overly pro-Turkish stance on controversial issues, but this book really is valuable.

A valuable and informative introductory textbook to be sure, but it is absurd that Professor McCarthy fails to provide any suggested readings, or even more shocking...a bibliography! He does cite when he uses a chart or document from another source, but I was incredulous to find no bibliography. No doubt McCarthy's students would receive a failing grade for such an egregious omission. That said, McCarthy's book provides a superb introduction to the complexities of Ottoman history, presented in an engaging and accessible manner.

I think this is a great book to learn about the Ottoman history and also will help to understand the entire region's history - Anatolia, Balkans, Middle East, North Africa, Europe and the caucasus region.

An excellent book. Based on meticilous research that included the Turkish archieves besides the regular twisted European archieves based on Greek and Armenian lies and European religious prejuidices. It is very well written and easy to read. Professor Mc Carthy outdid himself again.

I feel compelled to write a critical review of this book after reading the positive reviews it has been receiving from readers here, one of whom actually refers to it as "scholarly". Far from it. The book contains no bibliography and very few footnotes. The writing style is simplistic, sometimes even pedantic, and the presentation of topics and viewpoints, particularly coming towards the modern era, ranges from slightly to flagrantly biased. The ethnic conflicts of the nineteenth century are blamed entirely on Russian imperialism, the Ottoman Empire "had no choice" but to ally with Germany in the First World War, the tragic plight of ethnically cleansed Muslim populations is discussed in detail but that of Christians is not mentioned or glossed over as military necessity etc. This is a great book only if you are looking for a naively composed compilation of various sorts of post-Ottoman apologism.