Turkey: The Quest for Identity

by Feroz Ahmad

This concise history tells the story of Turkey, a country caught between the ideologies of East and West. From its beginnings as a disparate group of tribes to its status as the first secular republic in the Islamic world, Ahmad provides a full survey of Turkey’s chequered past. Covering nearly 1,000 years of history, from the eleventh-century invasion of Anatolia to attempts at European integration and involvement in the 2003 war with Iraq, Ahmad unpicks the debates and puts historical disputes in context. This updated edition also examines the problems faced by modern Turkey, from the rise of Islamic militancy to current political tensions in Turkey’s government.

Whether student, general reader or first-time visitor, this wide-ranging account will be greatly appreciated by all those with an interest in the past, present and future challenges facing this diverse, and often misunderstood, country.

Genres: History, Politics, Turkish, Nonfiction

356 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Feroz Ahmad was a Turkish-American academic, historian and political scientist who taught at different universities, including the University of Massachusetts Boston, Tufts University, Harvard University, Columbia University and Yeditepe University. He was one of the leading scholars studying modern history of Turkey.

Reviews

[Musab · Rating 4 out of 5]

Feroz Ahmad’ın 700 yıllık tarihi 250 sayfada aktarmaya çalıştığı eser. Konuya ilgisi olanlar için güzel bir başlangıç kitabı olabilir bu kitap lakin biraz bilgi birikimi olan, Türk Siyasi tarihi üzerine okumalar yapmış birisi için doyurucu bir kaynak değil. Yazar vermek istediğini, Türk toplumunun dönüşümünü kısa ve öz bir şekilde aktarmış her şeye rağmen.

[Mervenur · Rating 3 out of 5]

2006’ya kadar yüzeysel olarak neler olduğuna dair bilgi edinmek için iyi bir kitap gibi. Ama bazı yerlerde içi boş bırakılmış argümanlar var. Çevirisini okudum, hiç güzel değildi. Orijinalini okumam daha sağlıklı olurdu. Bazı cümlelerin sonunda alakasız ünlemler var, amaçlarını da çözemedim.:)

[Leah Weinberg]

Did not finish

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars A good choice as a 2nd view on Turkish history in English, 6 Aug 2009

This review is from: Turkey: The Quest for Identity: A Short History (Paperback)
Feroz Ahmad's "Turkey the quest for identity" is a good choice as a 2nd book to get different perspectives and outfilling information for the English speaking reader who wants an introduction to Turkish history.

It is several reasons why it is not a good only choice:

-Published in 2003, it does not cover important developments in Turkey for the last 6 years.

-Though giving a thoughout review on the policies of central authorities and the role of the armed forces from Ottoman times throughout the years of the Republic, Ahmad is rather week when it comes to give the reader an understanding of the life of ordinary people in different parts of the country - both Turks and the minorities.

-The coverage of some periods is indeed more readworty than others, especially his chapter 2 "Reform to revelution" covering 1789-1908 and to a lesser degree chapter 3 "The constitutional revelution" covering 1908-1918 are the least readworty chapters. If you have allready read an introduction to Turkish history you can simply jump directly to the well written chapters on the Republic.

This brings me to the strengths of Ahmad's book - his coverage of central government and the armed forces. I am sure that the reader that has read one introduction to Turkish history, will get additional information by reading chapter 4-7 in Ahmad's book.

Another strength is the suggested further readings after every chapter.
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[Cem Ertül · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really concise and well written. The author manages to tell the story of Modern Turkey in 200 pages. The result is a short but remarkably dense book. Every sentence is full of information and requires attentive reading. Ahmad focuses nearly exclusively on political history and does some excellent historical analysis. If you want a more comprehensive approach to modern Turkish History, maybe you need another (and probably larger) book, however this book manages to provide you with most of the knowledge that is necessary to understand the political climate of Turkey.

On a negative note, this book originally ends in 2003, when Erdoğan comes to power. Since a LOT has changed in Turkey and is continuing to change since then, the author included an extra postscript chapter which covers the time period until 2013. I found this chapter to be slightly lacking the excellent analyses Ahmad provided in earlier chapters. I hope he adds another postscript chapter, covering the events up to date, as well as making a deeper analysis of them.

[Hasrizal Jamil · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is good to help us understand the ideological development within the Turkish contemporary political parties, through the exhaustive historical analysis presented by the Feroz Ahmed

[Ali Gül · Rating 3 out of 5]

Feroz Ahmad'in okuduğum ilk kitabıydı. Türk modernleşmesinin başından itibaren anlatmaya başladığı ve 2013 yılına kadar getirdiği, kısa, öz, bir ders kitabı olabilecek güzel bir kitap. Türkiye'nin tarihine ilişkin genel bir bilgi almak istiyorsanız tavsiye ediyorum, kitap belki de hangi alanlarda daha derin okumalar yapmak isteyeceğinize rehberlik edecek.

[yalcin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kitabın sayfa sayısını düşünürsek, süzgeçten geçirilmiş bir Türkiye tarihi kitabı. İlgi duyanlar için önerilecek bir başlangıç eseri. Kitabın arkasındaki kronoloji de ana hatlarıyla bir tarih çerçevesi sunuyor.

[Kadir Akan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is a good beginning book for understanding Turkish political history. But it's definitely not enough.

[Selman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-prepared, well-written.