Atat�rk: An Intellectual Biography - Hardcover

Hanioğlu, M. Ş�kr�

4.06

341 ratings by Goodreads

9780691151090: Atat�rk: An Intellectual Biography

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0691151091 ISBN 13: 9780691151090

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2011

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When Mustafa Kemal Atat�rk became the first president of Turkey in 1923, he set about transforming his country into a secular republic where nationalism sanctified by science--and by the personality cult Atat�rk created around himself--would reign supreme as the new religion. This book provides the first in-depth look at the intellectual life of the Turkish Republic's founder. In doing so, it frames him within the historical context of the turbulent age in which he lived, and explores the uneasy transition from the late Ottoman imperial order to the modern Turkish state through his life and ideas.

Shedding light on one of the most complex and enigmatic statesmen of the modern era, M. S�kr� Hanioglu takes readers from Atat�rk's youth as a Muslim boy in the volatile ethnic cauldron of Macedonia, to his education in nonreligious and military schools, to his embrace of Turkish nationalism and the modernizing Young Turks movement. Who was this figure who sought glory as an ambitious young officer in World War I, defied the victorious Allies intent on partitioning the Turkish heartland, and defeated the last sultan? Hanioglu charts Atat�rk's intellectual and ideological development at every stage of his life, demonstrating how he was profoundly influenced by the new ideas that were circulating in the sprawling Ottoman realm. He shows how Atat�rk drew on a unique mix of scientism, materialism, social Darwinism, positivism, and other theories to fashion a grand utopian framework on which to build his new nation.

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From the Back Cover:

"Learned and deeply insightful, this elegantly written book offers a unique perspective on the founder of modern Turkey. Hanioglu's exploration of the evolving ideas of Atat�rk, their provenance and context, and their impact on the policies of the Turkish Republic is a singular contribution to understanding Atat�rk and his legacy. It is also a brilliant intellectual and cultural history of his age, and a veritable model of how the intertwined paths of politics and the history of ideas can be explored through the medium of biography."--Muhammad Qasim Zaman, author of The Ulama in Contemporary Islam

"This is the best book on Mustafa Kemal Atat�rk ever written. Hanio?lu deals with virtually every single aspect of Atat�rk's biography without drowning in the partisan battles surrounding it. I am certain that this powerful book will become a classic."--Cemil Aydin, author of The Politics of Anti-Westernism in Asia

"Hanio?lu has produced a work that is both accessible and intellectually stimulating. It is safe to say that there are few scholars alive today who are able to provide the rich historical perspective on Atat�rk's life that Hanio?lu provides here."--Benjamin C. Fortna, author of Imperial Classroom: Islam, the State, and Education in the Late Ottoman Empire

About the Author:

M. Ş�kr� Hanioğlu is the Garrett Professor in Foreign Affairs in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. His books include A Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire (Princeton).

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