Although advertised as a biography of Atatürk, founding father of the Turkish Republic, the book works best as "the best account...of the decline of the Ottoman Empire." The author does not attempt a psychological biography of the man, but rather describes Atatürk through his actions on the public stage. The result reads more like a history book than a biography. Mango does a good job of describing the large-scale political context for the action -- most notably the rise of nationalism in Europe and the complications it caused in the multi-ethnic Ottoman Empire. I didn't have the patience to keep track of the nitty-gritty details or the large cast of characters, but I feel like I understand how the Republic came about and why.
The book covers Atatürk's rise more thoroughly than his years as (basically) a dictator. I would like to know more about how he managed to leave behind a functioning democracy where most others would have left a failed state. The secret, I suspect, may be his relationship with İsmet İnönü, another war hero and prime minister to Ataturk's president. I'd be interested in reading a biography of İsmet, whose tenure in Turkish politics extends beyond Ataturk's into the early 1970s.
I bought this book in Istanbul, from a bookstore on Divan Yolu.
No comments:
Post a Comment