SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE
A SUNDAY TIMES PAPERBACK OF THE YEAR
'Magnificent . . . Important and hugely readable' William Dalrymple, Financial Times
'A wildly ambitious and entertainingly lurid history' James Barr, The Times
'A panoramic and thought-provoking account' Guardian
'A winning portrait of seven centuries of empire, teeming with life and colour' Sunday Times
'Superb, gripping and refreshing' Simon Sebag Montefiore
'Sweeping, colorful, and rich in extraordinary characters' Tom Holland
The major new history of a diverse empire that straddled East and West.
The Ottoman Empire has long been depicted as the Islamic, Asian antithesis of the Christian, European West, when in reality, their multiethnic, multilingual, and multireligious domain reached deep into Europe's heart. Recounting their remarkable rise to a world empire, Marc David Baer traces their debts to their Turkish, Mongolian, Islamic and Byzantine heritage. Upending Western accounts of the Renaissance, the Age of Exploration and the Reformation, The Ottomans is a magisterial portrait that vividly redefines the dynasty's enduring impact on Europe and the world.
The Ottoman Empire has long been depicted as the Islamic-Asian antithesis of the Christian-European West. But the reality was starkly different: the Ottomans' multiethnic, multilingual, and multireligious domain reached deep into Europe's heart. In their breadth and versatility, the Ottoman rulers saw themselves as the new Romans.
Recounting the Ottomans' remarkable rise from a frontier principality to a world empire, Marc David Baer traces their debts to their Turkish, Mongolian, Islamic and Byzantine heritage; how they used both religious toleration and conversion to integrate conquered peoples; and how, in the nineteenth century, they embraced exclusivity, leading to ethnic cleansing, genocide, and the dynasty's demise after the First World War. Upending Western concepts of the Renaissance, the Age of Exploration, the Reformation, this account challenges our understandings of sexuality, orientalism and genocide.
Radically retelling their remarkable story, The Ottomans is a magisterial portrait of a dynastic power, and the first to truly capture its cross-fertilisation between East and West.
Magnificent . . . Like a swift Ottoman caique cutting through the Sweet Waters of Asia, Baer's taut prose splices stereotypes and makes us think twice about long-held assumptions . . . [An] important and hugely readable book - a model of well-written, accessible scholarship
