The Ottomans: Dissolving Images [Hardcover]

Andrew Wheatcroft (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 3, 1994

The author teases out those qualities which were uniquely Ottoman - not Turkish, not Middle Eastern or even a shadowy echo of the West, they were born warriors from the steppes of Central Asia who became a singular urban culture. Their legacy still lives on in the Middle East and parts of Europe and the author recovers their long-forgotten and half-understood culture and analyzes their success.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In this well-researched study, Wheatcroft, a Scottish historian and professor of English, helps to correct the skewed Western view of the Ottomans, who ruled much of the Near East for four and a half centuries. Modern politics in the Balkans, Palestine, Arabia, and North Africa owes much to an Ottoman past. Wheatcroft's work is no dull theoretical presentation. The author excels in lucid description. To show us the Ottoman world, he brings us to the great capital of Stamboul, with its mosques, palaces, marketplaces, barracks, and slums. We see sultans and viziers, beys and pashas, janissaries and sipahis, eunuchs and slaves. We observe Ottoman politics, military practice, and social customs. Sometimes the narrative pace slows amid the plentiful detail, but this is a small criticism. The work is well illustrated and offers an up-to-date bibliography. Recommended for both academic and public collections.
James F. DeRoche, Alexandria, Va.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

An illustrated popular history that attempts to demystify the often enigmatic, feared, and misunderstood Ottoman Empire. Historian Wheatcroft (Univ. of Sterling in Scotland) begins with Mehmet's taking of Constantinople in 1453 and ends with Ataturk and the founding of modern Turkey after the First World War. Wheatcroft claims that the Ottomans are still largely reviled, a legacy of the Cruel Turk of legend (and indeed of fact). But this view seems somewhat dated now. His book doesn't contain anything startlingly new as far as the ``inner life'' of the Ottomans is concerned, nor is this culture ``shamefully neglected,'' as claimed. However, that life is perennially fascinating to the West, and Wheatcroft's evenhanded, urbane approach is admirably gripping, especially when recounting the great dramas of Ottoman history: the crushing of the Janissaries by the reforming sultan Mahmud in 1826, the agonizing and unsuccessful siege of Vienna in 1529 (with its fascinating account of Ottoman siege techniques), and the endless palace coups ending in ``the silken cord,'' the execution by strangulation reserved for the nobility. We see both Ottoman strengths (a huge military machine capable of massive deployments) and weaknesses (imperviousness to change, corruption, and the volatility of court politics rooted in the Yeni Saray, the palace built by Mehmet to which the harem was later moved). Wheatcroft explains the intricate hierarchies of Ottoman life and shows how the West created an image of its most formidable enemy by turns picturesquely orientalizing, as in Craig's picture of a pipe- smoking pasha having a petitioner grovel under his foot, and grimly factual, as in Mayer's 1800 picture of an Ottoman road flanked by the impaled corpses of criminals. Wheatcroft's contention that Ottomanism is a ``state of mind'' that has survived in the Middle East is less easy to verify. He has, though, drawn up a readable and colorful portrait of a complex history. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult (May 3, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670844128
• ISBN-13: 978-0670844128
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,144,540 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful trees, but not the forest, December 5, 2000

By 

Robert S. Newman "Bob Newman" (Marblehead, Massachusetts USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Ottomans: Dissolving Images (Mass Market Paperback)

Andrew Wheatcroft opens his book by saying that he does not wish to write a full-blown history of the Ottoman Empire, as these already exist, mentioning Lord Kinross' book ["The Ottoman Centuries"] as an example. Indeed that is a first-class history. Rather, Wheatcroft continues, he wants to write about `the idea of the Ottomans and how in the West that idea became so completely divorced from the reality". I am not sure that THE OTTOMANS represents a successful attempt at doing that, but it is a very interesting book, well-worth reading for anyone with a desire to spend some hours thinking about the Turkish past.

The two last chapters, on `the lustful Turk' and `the terrible Turk', truly delve into the construction and propagation of these commonly-held European images of the Ottomans, images that have not yet quite died off. Elsewhere, Wheatcroft occasionally remarks on or talks briefly about such images as they grew, but his work is more like a very interesting tour of some aspects of Ottoman life and history. His fine descriptions of battles and sieges---the initial siege and fall of Constantinople, the battle of Mohacs, the sieges of Vienna in 1529 and 1683---do not really fit into his theme. The full chapter spent on telling how the proud, corrupt and troublesome janissaries were finally destroyed provide a fascinating story, but are not about `the idea of the Ottomans'. While describing Ottoman institutions like the harem or army and the city of Stamboul itself, we can look through European eyes to some extent, thus coming closer to the theme, and the process of change, discussed in Chapter 6, called "Dreams from the Rose Pavilion: the Meandering Path of Reform", also involves European interpretations of the need for reforms and European estimations of their success. One of the highlights of THE OTTOMANS is the fine collection of pictures done by European artists---definitely a European view of the Turkish past. Not as much is made of these as could be: they might have been the center of the whole book.

I liked Wheatcroft's constant attempt to make readers consider the exaggerations of the past, to make Western readers realize that the Ottoman Empire, despite its faults, was one of the major political entities of the world for over 400 years. For much of that time it had institutions that rivalled or outshone those of the West. Even when the Industrial Revolution and the concomitant rise of modern warfare tilted the scales of power towards the West, many European opinions of Turkish cruelty, corruption, or lack of cleanliness neglected European shortcomings in identical areas. If Westerners are ever going to accept Turkey as a member of the European community or merely as an equal ally and partner, a realization of these centuries of propaganda is a must. If you are looking for an academically useful book on the Ottoman Empire, this is probably not it. If, on the other hand, you just want a fascinating, well-illustrated book that is clearly-written and lucid, giving you details of a fascinating sweep of history, you will enjoy THE OTTOMANS. It could be the jumping off place for wider readings in Ottoman history and culture. And it helps set the record straight.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a short overview of the ottoman empire, January 1, 2001

By 

Kevin M Quigg (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Ottomans: Dissolving Images (Mass Market Paperback)

I liked this book by Andrew Wheatcroft. In the introduction, he made it certain to the readerwhat he wasn't going to do, which was the entire history of the Ottaman Empire. What he does is clear up some misconceptions about the old Turkish Empire, and how they related to developments in Western Europe. If you want a defininitive book on the Turkish Empire, you should read Lord Kinross's The Ottoman Centuries or Palmer's book. Wheatcroft relates the images of the Lustful Turk, and discards those images into the trash can. What emerges is a very conservative Islamic society trying to cope with the West and not being very successful at it. The Sick Man of Europe did indeed die, but for the after effects read David Fromkin's A Peace to End All Peace.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Colorful Look Inside the Empire, August 1, 1999

By 

richard_t "richard_t" (Overseas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ottomans: Dissolving Images (Mass Market Paperback)

Wheatcroft's book fills a niche on the shelf. It is not a dry recitation of dates and historical facts, nor is it a complex analysis of causes and effects in the Ottoman empire. Instead it is a brief and fascinating look at certain specific scenes: the fall of Constantinople, the harem, the janissaries, Abdul Hamid "The Red Sultan", the seige of Vienna. Using these elements as jumping off points, Wheatcroft exposes western myths about the Ottomans and with broad strokes traces the rise and fall of the empire. This book may not provide enough grist for committed scholars but it is wonderfully readable, well-researched, and colorful. It is an excellent first or second book on the subject for those interested in a vivid and balanced overview of the Ottoman empire.