The Turkic Speaking Peoples: 2,000 Years of Art And Culture from Inner Asia to the Balkans [Hardcover]

Ergun Cagatay (Editor), Dogan Kuban (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2006

This comprehensive study of one of the most powerful and influential civilizations examines the rich heritage of the Turkic culture. From the first nomadic tribes migrating from central Asia to the Mediterranean, through the rise of the Seljuk and the Ottoman Empire, to the present day, this book explores the traditions and cultural practices of the Turkic speaking peoples. It examines their social and political significance within a historical and modern context, and their relationships with other cultures. This lavishly illustrated volume, featuring images from an award-winning photographer, allows readers to discover a civilization and understand its role in the world today.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'They (the photographes) are filled with a listening thoughtfulness; in one of them the reader can almost hear an upcoming drumbeat from a shaman witch doctor at work in a round yurt'.Steppe Magazine, June 2007

About the Author

Dogan Kuban is professor of History of Architecture at Istanbul Technical University and the author of numerous publications on the history and culture of Turks and Muslims. Ergun Cagatay is a photographer who has worked for the Associate Press and later the Gamma Agency in Paris. His photographs have appeared in major international magazines.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 495 pages
• Publisher: Prestel Publishing (September 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3791335154
• ISBN-13: 978-3791335155
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 9.8 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,092,722 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Reference Book, January 18, 2007

By 

SINAN AKKAYA (CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Turkic Speaking Peoples: 2,000 Years of Art And Culture from Inner Asia to the Balkans (Hardcover)

Very impressive pictures and good overview. Even new beginners in Turkology can understand the basic concepts. Not detailed but gives certain taste of Turkic world. Strongly advise to everyone who is willing to learn about the TURKS and TURKIC(TURKISH) WORLD.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent scholarship on Turkish culture, January 14, 2008

By 

Bas Van Der Veen (Gent,Belgium) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Turkic Speaking Peoples: 2,000 Years of Art And Culture from Inner Asia to the Balkans (Hardcover)

Excellent scholarship on Turkish culture

Today I opened this huge book and I am truly amazed about the range of articles and high quality of the contributions. Abundant illustrations accompany the texts. This books made me feel like packing my bags and visit all the places that are mentioned, like Central Asia, Mongolia, Russia or Turkey.

Besides the description of the Turkic languages and history of the Turkic peoples this book focuses on several topic that are highly relevant for contemporary Europe, like the relationship between the Turks and Arabs and the political situation in Anatolia following the Turkic invasion. Nowadays this is seen as a clash between cultures and Christian and Muslim faiths, but this books shows the not so well known facts of peaceful coexistence of Greek and Turkis communities.

Also highly interesting and less known to most Europeans is the fact that a considerable portion of the population belongs to of the Alevi faith and its diverse branches in Turkey, which is a "liberal" islam. I can recommend also an article about the relation between Europe and Turkey.I saw also a nice article about Manichaeism and Buddism among the Uighur Turks.

I have not started to look into the article on Turkish cuisine, but the description of pilav and other recipes are worth to try in your own kitchen.

With 500 pages and lots of illustrations on a wide range of subjects this book should be interesting enough for everyone, even people who consider themselves experts on Turkish culture. Highly recommended!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great coffee-table book, but contains significant errors, June 21, 2008

By 

Leonard Fox (Charleston, SC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Turkic Speaking Peoples: 2,000 Years of Art And Culture from Inner Asia to the Balkans (Hardcover)

This is a very beautiful and informative book, but the editing and proofreading leave quite a lot to be desired. The typographical errors are too numerous to list, as are examples of lack of consistency in transcription and spelling. It would certainly have been less confusing to readers if the information in the various articles had been correlated so that contradictions did not occur. For example, Talat Tekin, in his chapter, "Present-Day Turkic Peoples and Their Languages," says that "Karay [Karaim] is now a dead language," yet Éva Csató Johanson, in her contribution to the book, "The Karaims: The Smallest Group of Turkic-Speaking Peoples," quite correctly states that Karaim is an endangered language, but is still alive and spoken by Karaites/Karaims in Lithuania, as well as by some elderly people in Halich, in addition to Dr. Csató's comment that the Karaites/Karaims of the Crimea are trying to revive their dialect of the language. There is also some data on the origin and history of the Karaites/Karaims of the former Soviet Union that is presented as fact, although scholars have been hotly debating these issues for quite some time.

The book undoubtedly has a large number of wonderful photographs and much useful textual material, but unfortunately, in many respects, its scholarly value is somewhat limited, not to say questionable.