Osman's Dream : The Story of the Ottoman Empire 1300-1923 - Hardcover

Caroline Finkel

3.7

1,297 ratings by Goodreads

9780719555138: Osman's Dream : The Story of the Ottoman Empire 1300-1923

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0719555132 ISBN 13: 9780719555138

Publisher: John Murray Publishers Ltd, 2005

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The Ottoman chronicles recount that the first sultan, Osman, dreamt of the dynasty he would found -- a tree, fully-formed, emerged from his navel, symbolising the vigour of his successors and the extent of their domains. This is the first book to bring the full story of the Ottoman dynasty -- and its empire and peoples -- to a broader readership.Osman's descendants combined the resourcefulness of their nomadic origins with the imperial world-view of conquered Byzantium. The result was a multi-ethnic state that for six centuries held sway over territories stretching -- at their greatest -- from Hungary to the Persian Gulf, and from North Africa to the Caucasus. The Ottoman path to modernity was every bit as complex as those of the Habsburgs or Romanovs.Understanding the realization of Osman's vision over the many centuries when the Ottoman Empire controlled the centre of the globe is essential for anyone who seeks to understand the modern world.

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About the Author:

Caroline Finkel has lived in Istanbul for many years and travelled widely in Turkey and the former Ottoman lands. She has a doctorate in Ottoman history from the School of Oriental and African Studies and has published numerous articles. She has studied Hungarian, Arabic and Persian in addition to Ottoman and modern Turkish. Osman's Dream is her third book.

From Publishers Weekly:

What Finkel calls the "old" narrative of the Ottoman Empire is simple to relate: "it rose, declined, and fell." An exotic parade of salacious sultans, grand viziers and duplicitous eunuchs inhabit the sultry harems and domed palaces of Istanbul—at least in our imaginations. Finkel, a long-time resident of Turkey and Ottoman scholar, relates a "new" narrative of empire that properly accounts for the richness and complexity of the Ottoman state over nearly seven centuries. By presiding over their multiethnic empire for so long, and ushering it from medievalism to modernity, the Ottomans should be ranked alongside the Hapsburgs and the Romanovs, she argues. That they are overlooked is the fault of Western historians who have peered at their subjects through the lens of their own prejudices. Finkel's striking innovation is to turn a mirror on the Ottomans and examine how they saw themselves and their empire. While this approach yields a refreshingly original perspective, Finkel's quest to improve Westerners' understanding occasionally leads her into some questionable stretches (an implication, for instance, that Westerners think all Muslims are terrorists). Happily, these remain unintrusive and this history makes a riveting and enjoyable read for all audiences. 16 pages of photos; maps. (Mar.)
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