What do you think?
Rate this book
Looking for Elsewhere: The Jews of Turkey Then and Now
265 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 28, 2026
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 25, 2026
A very enjoyable, beautifully woven, and, ultimately, bittersweet read. I’m glad these stories have been told and hope they can shed light on other communities and histories that are too often left in the shadows.
What makes Looking for Elsewhere: Jews in Turkey, Now and Then such a compelling read is the way it blends personal storytelling with historical facts. The personal accounts make the history feel alive and intimate, while the historical context gives those individual stories a much deeper meaning. It is both informative and genuinely enjoyable to read.
At the same time, there is something deeply sad about the story it tells: a community slowly disappearing and becoming poorer in so many different ways—numerically, culturally, economically, intellectually, and through the loss of younger generations and the resulting brain drain.
For me, it also raises difficult questions about what it has meant to be a minority in Turkey. Atatürk’s famous “Ne mutlu Türküm diyene” may sound like an inclusive statement of belonging, but the experiences described in this book show how complicated — and painfully impossible — that belonging has been for Turkey’s minorities.
I particularly appreciated the personal accounts throughout the book. They turn what could have been a purely historical account into something much more human and moving. And although the story is specifically about Turkey’s Jews, I couldn’t help thinking about how much of it might also speak to the experiences of other minority communities.
What makes Looking for Elsewhere: Jews in Turkey, Now and Then such a compelling read is the way it blends personal storytelling with historical facts. The personal accounts make the history feel alive and intimate, while the historical context gives those individual stories a much deeper meaning. It is both informative and genuinely enjoyable to read.
At the same time, there is something deeply sad about the story it tells: a community slowly disappearing and becoming poorer in so many different ways—numerically, culturally, economically, intellectually, and through the loss of younger generations and the resulting brain drain.
For me, it also raises difficult questions about what it has meant to be a minority in Turkey. Atatürk’s famous “Ne mutlu Türküm diyene” may sound like an inclusive statement of belonging, but the experiences described in this book show how complicated — and painfully impossible — that belonging has been for Turkey’s minorities.
I particularly appreciated the personal accounts throughout the book. They turn what could have been a purely historical account into something much more human and moving. And although the story is specifically about Turkey’s Jews, I couldn’t help thinking about how much of it might also speak to the experiences of other minority communities.
Displaying 1 of 1 review