Top of the Bill in ‘Foreign Affairs’
Thrilled to see top-of-the-bill ranking for my last book, Sons of the Conquerors: the Rise of the Turkic World !
New York’s Foreign Affairs magazine on 23 September 2009 listed the book’s account of my Central Asian and other Turkic journeys first among the 20 titles judged essential for ‘What to Read on Turkish Politics’ (see here).
Reviewer Ian O. Lesser found it
an erudite and readable history of the Turks as a people, from their origins on the Eurasian steppes, through the Ottoman ascendancy, to their modern geopolitical reach. Along the way, it also says a lot about Turkey’s political and strategic culture.
At sixth on the list, Foreign Affairs also recommends my first book, Turkey Unveiled: A History of Modern Turkey (John Murray 1997, Overlook Duckworth 2004), alongside books by former New York Times correspondent Stephen Kinzer and former Swedish Ambassador Ann Dismorr.
Dr. Lesser says all three are
by authors with long experience covering the country and its neighbors. These three offer a solid background on the rise of the Justice and Development Party (AKP); changing secular, religious, and civil-military dynamics in Turkey; and the tremendous expansion of the Turkish economy … all three volumes are refreshingly free of polemic about Turkish identity.
Hugh Pope 