Benjamin Fortna on the controversial life of Eşref Kuşçubaşı
February 10, 2017
University of Arizona Professor Benjamin Fortna discusses “The Circassian: A Life of Eşref Bey, Late Ottoman Insurgent and Special Agent” (Hurst).
Eşref Kuşçubaşı was a secret service operative in the final years of the Ottoman Empire, who later turned his back on the resistance forces of Mustafa Kemal during the War of Independence and ended up in exile for almost 30 years. Fortna’s biography is the most detailed account of Eşref’s contentious life, based on exclusive access to previously unexamined papers.
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As mentioned in the episode, Turkey Book Talk listeners can get a 33% discount plus free delivery on this and three other titles published by Hurst – “The New Turkey and its Discontents” by Simon Waldman and Emre Çalışkan, “The Poisoned Well: Empire and its Legacy in the Middle East” by Roger Hardy, and “Out of Nowhere: The Syrian Kurds in Peace and War” by Michael Gunter. Follow this link to get that discount.
If you enjoy or benefit from the podcast and want to support it, click here to make a donation to Turkey Book Talk via Patreon!
Many thanks to my current supporters Özlem Beyarslan, Steve Bryant, Celia Jocelyn Kerslake and Aaron Ataman.
Hale Yılmaz on social transformation in Turkey, yesterday and today
January 27, 2017
In this new Turkey Book Talk episode Southern Illinois University associate professor of history Hale Yılmaz speaks about her book “Becoming Turkish: Nationalist Reforms and Cultural Negotiations in Early Republican Turkey, 1923-1945” (Syracuse University Press).
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Background reading:
- Alexandros Lamprou discusses his book on the People’s Houses: “Nation-Building in Modern Turkey: The People’s Houses, the State and the Citizen”.
- A visit to Mahmut Makal on the 60th anniversary of his autobiographical book “Bizim Köy” (Our Village), describing the tough life of a village teacher in early republican Turkey.
If you enjoy or benefit from the podcast and want to support it, click here to make a small or large donation to Turkey Book Talk via Patreon.
Many thanks to my current supporters Özlem Beyarslan, Steve Bryant, Celia Jocelyn Kerslake and Aaron Ataman.
Roger Hardy on empire and its legacy in the Middle East
December 9, 2016
Roger Hardy’s speaks to the Turkey Book Talk podcast talk about “The Poisoned Well: Empire and its Legacy in the Middle East” (Hurst).
Download the episode or listen below.
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And here’s my Hürriyet Daily News review of the book.
By the way I’ve belatedly set up a Twitter account dedicated to the podcast. Do follow. Cheers!
If you’re a fan of this podcast and want to support independent podcasting, click here to make a small or large monetary donation to Turkey Book Talk via Patreon.
Many thanks to current supporters Özlem Beyarslan, Steve Bryant, Celia Jocelyn Kerslake and Aaron Ataman.
Kaya Genç on rage and revolution in modern Turkey
November 25, 2016
Kaya Genç returns to the Turkey Book Talk podcast. This time he joins to discuss his new book “Under the Shadow: Rage and Revolution in Modern Turkey,” which profiles young Turks from across the political spectrum.
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My review of the book will be appearing in the next couple of weeks in the Times Literary Supplement so keep your eyes peeled for that.
Here’s the episode from earlier this year with Kaya discussing “An Istanbul Anthology”, which he edited:
NB: If you like this podcast and want to support independent podcasting, click here to make a small or large monetary donation to Turkey Book Talk via Patreon.
Many thanks to current supporters Özlem Beyarslan, Steve Bryant, Celia Jocelyn Kerslake and Aaron Ataman.
Özge Samancı on ‘Dare to Disappoint: Growing up in Turkey’
October 12, 2016
Özge Samancı talks to Turkey Book Talk about her bestselling graphic memoir “Dare to Disappoint: Growing up in Turkey” (Farrar Straux Giroux). It’s a charming book and everyone I know who has read it raves about it.
Download the podcast episode or listen below.
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Here’s my review of the book from a few months ago.
Many thanks to current supporters Özlem Beyarslan, Steve Bryant, Andrew Cruickshank and Aaron Ataman.
Ali Yaycıoğlu on the Ottoman Empire in the ‘age of revolutions’
September 30, 2016
Ali Yaycıoğlu joins Turkey Book Talk to discuss “Partners of the Empire: The Crisis of the Ottoman Order in the Age of Revolutions” (Stanford University Press), examining the extraordinary upheavals in the Ottoman Empire at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries.
In the conversation he talks about the long-term effects of these upheavals and what the period can tell us about contemporary Turkey’s turbulent political landscape.
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Here’s my review of the book.
Many thanks to current supporters Özlem Beyarslan, Steve Bryant, Andrew Cruickshank and Aaron Ataman.
Ece Temelkuran on ‘Turkey: The Insane and the Melancholy’
September 2, 2016
Ece Temelkuran joins Turkey Book Talk to discuss “Turkey: The Insane and the Melancholy” (Zed Books), her vivid and personal account of the current state of the country.
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My review of this one is pending – waiting for it to be published in the TLS before posting in abridged form in Hürriyet.
Many thanks to current supporters Özlem Beyarslan, Steve Bryant, Andrew Cruickshank and Aaron Ataman.
Bilge Yeşil on the Turkish media, past and present
August 20, 2016
Turkey Book Talk is back after a one month hiatus.
We return with a good one: Bilge Yeşil speaks about her book “Media in New Turkey: The Origins of an Authoritarian Neoliberal State” (University of Illinois Press).
Download the episode or listen below:
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Here’s my review of the book.
If you like Turkey Book Talk and want to support independent podcasting, you can make a small or large monetary donation to the show via Patreon. Many thanks to current supporters Özlem Beyarslan, Steve Bryant, Andrew Cruickshank and Aaron Ataman.
Cem Emrence on ‘remapping the Ottoman Middle East’
July 15, 2016
Cem Emrence speaks to Turkey Book Talk about his book “Remapping the Ottoman Middle East: Modernity, Imperial Bureaucracy and Islam” (IB Tauris).
The book looks at Ottoman modernization through the 19th and early 20th centuries using an original model of “three-trajectories”: The coast, the interior, and the frontier, which each followed distinct paths to modernity.
Download the episode or listen below.
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Here’s my review of the book at Hürriyet Daily News.
If you like Turkey Book Talk and want to support independent podcasting, you can make a small or large monetary donation to the show via Patreon. Many thanks to current supporters Özlem Beyarslan, Steve Bryant and Andrew Cruickshank.
Maureen Freely joins to discuss the tragic life of author Sabahattin Ali and her translation of his classic 1943 novel “Madonna in a Fur Coat,” just published in a first ever English edition by Penguin.
Download the episode or listen below:
Subscribe to Turkey Book Talk: iTunes / PodBean / Stitcher / Facebook / RSS
Check my review of the book at Hürriyet Daily News, previously published in the Times Literary Supplement.
Support the Turkey Book Talk podcast with a per episode donation via Patreon – Many thanks to current supporters Özlem Beyarslan, Steve Bryant and Andrew Cruickshank.
Ryan Gingeras on the fall of the Ottoman sultanate
May 14, 2016
A welcome return to the pod to Ryan Gingeras, who joins to talk about his new book “The Fall of the Sultanate: The Great War and the End of the Ottoman Empire, 1908-1922” (Oxford University Press).
Download the podcast or listen below.
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Here’s my review of the book at HDN.
This is Ryan’s second appearance on the Turkey Book Talk podcast. Click here to listen to him discussing his recently published biography of Atatürk: “Mustafa Kemal Atatürk: Heir to an Empire.”
Support the podcast via Patreon. Many thanks to current supporters Özlem Beyarslan, Steve Bryant and Andrew Cruickshank.
Cihan Tuğal on the fall of the ‘Turkish model’
April 16, 2016
Cihan Tuğal, a sociologist at UC Berkeley, chats about “The Fall of the Turkish Model: How the Arab Uprisings Brought Down Islamic Liberalism” (Verso), charting how Turkey went from a model “Muslim democracy” for the Middle East to an increasingly authoritarian state.
Download the podcast or listen below:
Subscribe: iTunes / PodBean / Stitcher / Facebook / RSS
Here’s my review of the book at Hürriyet Daily News.
Support the Turkey Book Talk podcast via my Patreon account. You can help me keep producing the podcast by making a monetary donation, big or small, on a per episode basis! Many thanks to current supporters Sera Aleksandra Marshall and Andrew Cruickshank.
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