Turkey Book Talk episode #149 – E. Natalie Rothman, associate professor of history at the University of Toronto, on “The Dragoman Renaissance: Diplomatic Interpreters and the Routes of Orientalism” (Cornell University Press).
The book shows how Istanbul-based diplomatic translator-interpreters played a crucial role in developing outside understanding of the Ottoman Empire, as well as in the Ottoman elites’ various diplomatic manoeuvres.
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The e-book edition is available for free open access download from Cornell Open.
Also check out the Dragoman Renaissance Research Platform website, set up as a companion offering additional resources related to the project.
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Support Turkey Book Talk by becoming a member. Members get extras including exclusive access to a 30% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman history books published by IB Tauris/Bloomsbury, transcripts of every interview upon publication, transcripts of the entire archive of episodes, and an archive of 231 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics.
Turkey Book Talk episode #142 – Malte Fuhrmann, research fellow at the Liebniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, on “Port Cities of the East Mediterranean: Urban Culture in the Late Ottoman Empire” (Cambridge University Press).
The book paints a panorama of cultural and social life in the diverse port cities of Salonica, Istanbul and Izmir in the late Ottoman era, when European cultural traits and economic developments had a profound impact on the daily experiences of locals across confessional boundaries.
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Support Turkey Book Talk by becoming a member. Members get extras including exclusive access to a 30% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman history books published by IB Tauris/Bloomsbury, English and Turkish transcripts of every interview upon publication, transcripts of the entire archive of episodes, and an archive of 231 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics.
Turkey Book Talk episode #141 – Sir Noel Malcolm, senior research fellow at All Souls College, University of Oxford, on “Useful Enemies: Islam and the Ottoman Empire in Western Political Thought 1450-1750” (Oxford University Press).
The book examines how early modern Western European writers shaped perceptions of the Ottoman Empire and Islam through fear, distrust and hostility, but also curiosity and admiration.
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Support Turkey Book Talk by becoming a member. Members get extras including exclusive access to a 30% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman history books published by IB Tauris/Bloomsbury, English and Turkish transcripts of every interview upon publication, transcripts of the entire archive of episodes, and an archive of 231 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics.
Ahmet Erdi Öztürk on Turkey’s cultural, political and religious footprint in the Balkans
April 13, 2021
Turkey Book Talk episode #139 – Ahmet Erdi Öztürk, associate professor and Marie Curie fellow at London Metropolitan University and Coventry University, and non-resident scholar at ELIAMEP, on “Religion, Identity and Power: Turkey and the Balkans in the Twenty-First Century” (Edinburgh University Press).
Based on extensive fieldwork in the region, the book examines how Turkey’s religious nationalist transformation under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is reflected in its expanding footprint in the Balkans.
Download the episode or listen below
Listen to Turkey Book Talk: iTunes / PodBean / Stitcher / Acast / Spotify / RSS
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Check out Raziye Akkoç and Diego Cupolo’s excellent Turkey Recap weekly newsletter.
Support Turkey Book Talk by becoming a member. Members get extras including exclusive access to a 30% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman history books published by IB Tauris/Bloomsbury, English and Turkish transcripts of every interview upon publication, transcripts of the entire archive of episodes, and an archive of 231 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics.
Turkey Book Talk episode #132 – Omer Taşpınar, professor at the US National War College and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, on “What the West is Getting Wrong about the Middle East: Why Islam is Not the Problem” (IB Tauris/Bloomsbury)
The book argues that the US and Europe often fundamentally misunderstand social and political trends in the Middle East, overemphasising the importance of Islam at the expense of more important economic, governance and institutional factors. It makes this case by examining the examples of Turkey, the Sunni-Shia divide and the emergence of ISIS.
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Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk and get extras: English and Turkish transcripts of every interview upon publication, transcripts of the entire archive of episodes, and an archive of 231 reviews written by myself covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics. We are also currently working on a 2021 update to the discount deal on books in IB Tauris/Bloomsbury’s Turkey/Ottoman history category, so stay tuned for that.
Turkey Book Talk #129 – Elizabeth Rodini on “Gentile Bellini’s Portrait of Sultan Mehmed II: Lives and Afterlives of an Iconic Image” (IB Tauris/Bloomsbury).
The book explores how and why the Venetian painter came to the Ottoman court in 1479, as well as his portrait’s many intriguing afterlives in subsequent centuries.
Download the episode or listen below:
Listen to Turkey Book Talk: iTunes / PodBean / Stitcher / Acast / Spotify / RSS
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Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk and get loads of extras: A 35% discount on any of over 100 books in IB Tauris/Bloomsbury’s excellent Turkey/Ottoman history category, English and Turkish transcripts of every interview upon publication, transcripts of the entire archive of episodes, and an archive of 231 reviews written by myself covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics.
Ahmet Kuru on Islam, authoritarianism and underdevelopment
September 29, 2020
Turkey Book Talk #125 – Ahmet Kuru, professor of political science at San Diego State University, on “Islam, Authoritarianism and Underdevelopment: A Global and Historical Comparison” (Cambridge University Press).
The book traces the causes of low socio-economic development in many Muslim-majority countries to the 11th century, when Kuru argues an alliance of orthodox Islamic scholars and military states started to hinder intellectual and economic creativity.
Download the episode or listen below
Listen to Turkey Book Talk: iTunes / PodBean / Stitcher / Acast / Spotify / RSS
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Check out Raziye Akkoç and Diego Cupolo’s excellent Turkey Recap weekly newsletter.
Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk and get loads of extras: A 35% discount on any of over 100 books in IB Tauris/Bloomsbury’s excellent Turkey/Ottoman history category, English and Turkish transcripts of every interview upon publication, transcripts of the entire archive of episodes, and an archive of 231 reviews written by myself covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics.
Zeynep Çelik on archaeology and heritage in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey
September 15, 2020
Turkey Book Talk #124 – Zeynep Çelik, professor of architecture at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, on the origins of archaeology in the Ottoman Empire, the response to the European pursuit of antiquities, and questions of heritage in contemporary Turkey.
Çelik is author of “Empire, Architecture and the City: French-Ottoman Encounters, 1830-1914” (University of Washington Press) and “About Antiquities: Politics of Archaeology in the Ottoman Empire” (University of Texas Press), among others.
Download the episode or listen below
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As mentioned at the end of the episode, Nektaria Anastasiadou’s debut novel, “A Recipe for Daphne”, has just been published by Hoopoe Books. Check out details here and order it from Hoopoe here.
Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk and get loads of extras: A 35% discount on any of over 100 books in IB Tauris/Bloomsbury’s excellent Turkey/Ottoman history category, English and Turkish transcripts of every interview upon publication, transcripts of the entire archive of episodes, and an archive of 231 reviews written by myself covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics.
Turkey Book Talk episode #117 – Oya Dursun-Özkanca, professor of political science at Elizabethtown College, on her book “Turkey-West Relations: The Politics of Intra-Alliance Opposition” (Cambridge University Press) and Ankara’s grand ambitions for the post-coronavirus world.
Download the episode or listen below.
Listen to Turkey Book Talk : iTunes / PodBean / Stitcher / Acast / Spotify / RSS
Follow Turkey Book Talk on Facebook or Twitter

Remember to check out Raziye Akkoç and Diego Cupolo’s excellent Turkey Recap weekly newsletter
Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk and get loads of extras: A 35% discount on any of over 100 books in IB Tauris/Bloomsbury’s excellent Turkey/Ottoman history category, English and Turkish transcripts of every interview upon publication, transcripts of the entire archive of episodes, and an archive of 231 reviews written by myself covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics.
Turkey Book Talk episode #116 – Ünver Rüstem, assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University, on “Ottoman Baroque: The Architectural Refashioning of Eighteenth-Century Istanbul” (Princeton University Press).
The book examines the adoption of Baroque and rococo styles in Istanbul mosques between 1740 and 1800, looking at how this fits into – or perhaps questions – popular ideas of Ottoman decline and Western influence.
Download the episode or listen below.
Listen to Turkey Book Talk : iTunes / PodBean / Stitcher / Acast / Spotify / RSS
Follow Turkey Book Talk on Facebook or Twitter

Remember to check out Raziye Akkoç and Diego Cupolo’s excellent Turkey Recap weekly newsletter
Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk and get loads of extras: A 35% discount on any of over 100 books in IB Tauris/Bloomsbury’s excellent Turkey/Ottoman history category, English and Turkish transcripts of every interview upon publication, transcripts of the entire archive of episodes, and an archive of 231 reviews written by myself covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics.
Ayse Zarakol on stigma and status anxiety in Turkey’s ties to the West
February 18, 2020
Turkey Book Talk episode #109 – Ayşe Zarakol, reader in international relations at Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge, on “After Defeat: How the East Learned to Live with the West” (Cambridge University Press).
The book was published in English in 2011, and its second Turkish edition has just come out. It examines how a sense of “stigma” has dogged the way modern Turkey engages with the Western-led international order, as well as comparable cases of Japan and Russia.
Download the episode or listen below.
Listen to Turkey Book Talk : iTunes / PodBean / Stitcher / Acast / Spotify / RSS
Check out the excellent Turkey Recap weekly newsletter

Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk and get loads of extras: A 35% discount on any of over 100 books in IB Tauris/Bloomsbury’s excellent Turkey/Ottoman history category, English and Turkish transcripts of every interview upon publication, transcripts of the entire archive of episodes, and an archive of 231 reviews written by myself covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics.
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