Customer Reviews

Scotch and Holy Water

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(2)
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When I met John D. (as his friends called him) at the Karamursel Air Force Base in 1964, he had already been in Turkey for 6 years and was quite familiar with Turkish way of life. Having studied Latin, French and German and taught speech at the University of Notre Dame, he learned Turkish quickly. His passion for archeology motivated him to travel extensively in Turkey and visit the many ancient Greek and Roman sites there. As a bachelor he engaged himself in night life where he met interesting people, experienced local customs and became an expert (Saki) in drinking RAKI. An empathetic character, John D. had the innate talent to get along with people. He was a perfect diplomat with a charming smile, intelligence, humility (rare in those days for an American in Turkey) and a scholarly knowledge about practically everything. As an expert bridge player with capacity to drink anyone under the table, he was very popular in social circles. My brief friendship with him ended in 1965 when I left Turkey for an assignment in Canada. As a Turk I loved the book. It was a joy to read it. Thanks to "Scotch and Holy Water" I learned more about ancient history, Greek and Roman mythology and places I have not yet visited in Turkey. My Scottish wife who has been to Turkey several times and is very knowledgeable about Turkish culture also loved it. John D's humor, wit and description of Turks and American alike were just hilarious. When I read about my former colleagues Yuksel Enginsu, Bertram Crane, Kemal Simsek and John Hicks, it evoked so many fond memories of my days in Turkey. More than anything else in this book, as in life, John D. illustrates his deep understanding and respect for Turks and their culture. Anyone who has any interest in or connection to Turkey should read his insightful book. I was deeply saddened to learn that John David Tumpane, a truly Renaissance Man, died in October 1997. Muharrem Sev (Istanbul native), still residing in Ottawa, Canada (Sep 3, 1999)

For perspective, I was 2 years old when John D met me and 12 years old the last time I saw him. As for the book, it's all true, and couldn't have been better said. I recall my father (Art) and mother (Mim) coming back from the evening excusions John D. and the others would go on and how the laughing never stopped. Like other readers comment, it all needs to be put in perspective. I recently loaned the book to an associate who just returned from Izmir...the book has yet to be returned. They're making another trip and have commented toward the value the book has offered in understanding the people and places. Like the many of us who endured there for over 10 years, as the book prefaces the subject, you begin to understand the people, like the people and land, and never want to leave...yearning periodically to consider a return trip.

I recommend the reading of this book...it's well worth the time...it'll make you laugh..consider, the literal interpretations that can only exist...

My husband and I first moved to Izmir, Turkey in 1996 and we both read "Scotch and Holy Water". We were still living in a hotel and had not yet experienced the country and very little of the people. I laughed through the whole thing and couldn't wait to see the places he wrote about. I read it again about two years later, we were still there, and it was even better. I couldn't believe how true the book was. It was like he was writing our story. Even forty years later not much was different. We did not live on a military compound and ended up moving to a very small village outside the city. We are very adventurous people with little fear of what kind of trouble we may get into getting lost. And we were lost MANY times!!! Learning the language was very important to really enjoy it. The people are wounderful and warm. Everyday there was something new that would crack us up. They have a very different type of logic. We will go back again one day.

I highly recomend Scotch and Holy Water even if you have no interest in Turkey. It is a great Read. He did a great job of bring out the realness of the country and the everyday living of the people as Turks and foriegners.

John was a special friend of mine and we shared our joy of traveling in Turkey and environs as well as other pastimes such as playing bridge, putting together jigsaw puzzles, trying different restaurants - most anything was an adventure with him. I have owned many copies of Scotch and Holy Water. It seems everytime I loaned someone a copy I never saw it again. When John sent me my current copy some time ago, he inscribed it with words to the effect of not returning it to rightful owner could result in penalty of death. That copy is still in my possession. John was a highly intelligent man who delighted in the world around him, wherever he was. I last saw him in Walnut Creek, California shortly before his death. He was not writing at this time but had turned his energies towards growing roses and gardenias and spending time with his adored baby sister. I have missed him but my life is richer having known him.

I am half american half turkish airforce military brat. I can vouch that the attitudes and ways in the book in the time it was written and even in general today are the turkish people.
It is a great way to understand the culture. I first read this book after finding it my fathers library when I was 18. I read it as almost his own stories from his stationing there earlier on.

I was stationed in Diyarbakir (unaccompanied) as a chaplain in the USAF in 1983 and in Izmir in 1988-1990 with my family. It is a five-star, especially if you have lived there and experienced the people and the culture. It really is a "cult book" for those with great memories like ours. We can identify with so many of the places and events. We have worn out 2 copies and are now getting a couple of more!!

"Scotch and Holy Water, by John D. Tumpane, is a charming account of the adventures of a fun-loving group of American ex-pats in Turkey in the late 1950s and 1960s.

John D was a graduate of Yale who went to Turkey with his family's engineering business. I grew up around John D, and he was always a positive influence on me and the other kids around him. John D adored life and travel and language and people. He traveled extensively around Turkey, learned to speak Turkish quite well, and seemed to rejoice in exploring the Turkish culture.

John D often wrote short stories and "Scotch and Holy Water" is the book that grew from his collection of hilarious stories. He wrote lovingly about both the Turks and the American ex-pats. His writing describes the uniquely Turkish spirit of hospitality and joy of life. When he writes about the Americans, he emphasizes the exploration and fun. John D doesn't cover up the foibles of the Americans there in Turkey, but he does treat them gently and with kindness. Having grown up in the places and times he describes, I can attest to both the accuracy and the gentleness in John D's writing.

"Scotch and Holy Water" is full of good deep laughs from this earlier time of innocence.

This is an outstanding and hillarious recollection of a man's adventures from his 10 years in Turkey. It is well written, and amusing to both cultures. It provides great insight for any American travelling in, or wishing to know more about the turksish culture. It is a pleasure to read.

I found myself in Adana, Turkey in November, 1979, as a US Air Force lieutenant with the 614th Tactical Fighter Squadron. As the recent emigrant of an Illinois farm town of about 1000 people, my total out-of-country experience had consisted of two weeks in Canada, and about three weeks in Spain, enroute to Turkey. We happened to arrive in Turkey just as the Iranians were seizing U.S. hostages in Tehran, Iran, putting the final stake through the heart of Jimmy Carter's presidency. Our squadron of old F-4D Phantom IIs, worn out over the jungles of Viet Nam, were the closest U.S. forces to the crisis. For a month, we sat on varying degrees of alert. During that month, I fell in love with Turkey, a country I then knew of chiefly through the then-recent movie "Midnight Express." As luck would have it, I was able to visit Turkey many more times through the 1980s. Each time, I found the Turkish people to be more interesting, more hospitable and generous, and more complex. The country was and is a contrast in opposites, wealth vs. poverty, technology vs. ignorance, secularism vs. religious conservatism, and a liberal democracy sprouting out from underneath an ever-vigilant, and occasionally repressive, army. No matter whom I met, the Turkish had a more definable national character than any North American or European people I had ever met or would meet. They always were generous to those who showed the slightest interest in their culture, their language, or their rich history. John Tumpne's book, "Scotch and Holy Water" is a cult classic among Americans who have met Turkish people and culture, and have liked both. The book consists of a series of vignettes from the author's personal experiences as a contractor for the U.S. Air Force in Turkey during the 1950s and early 1960s. Having been dragged there by an older, more successful brother, the parallels of the author with Mark Twain (and the book's with "Roughing It" or "The Innocents Abroad") are always present, although in a more modern context. Tumpane has a very clear and concise writing style, although not nearly so severe as Hemingway's, yet conveys much more "presence" and an almost poetic description of day-to-day life in modern Turkey, which dwarfs any James Michener novel. Tumpane often resembles a 20th-Century Clemens in his narrative of the ordinary, giving insights typical of "Following the Equator." If you would like to understand daily life in modern Turkey, or the life of American expatriates in out-of-the-way countries, or just escape and have a lot of good laughs along the way, "Scotch and Holy Water" is a great read. Thomas Clar

A must read for anyone who has lived or is living in Turkey. I laughed the whole way through and could relate to almost everything, even though it's 30 years later. The author captures the uniqueness, frustrations, and wonders of living in Turkey.