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The Ottomans

Khans, Caesars and Caliphs

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The Ottomans

By: Marc David Baer
Narrated by: Jamie Parker
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About this listen

A major new history of the 600-year dynasty that connected East to West as never before.

The Ottoman Empire has long been depicted as the Islamic Asian antithesis of the Christian European West. But the reality was starkly different: the Ottomans' multiethnic, multilingual, and multireligious domain reached deep into Europe's heart. In their breadth and versatility, the Ottoman rulers saw themselves as the new Romans.

Recounting the Ottomans' remarkable rise from a frontier principality to a world empire, Marc David Baer traces their debts to their Turkish, Mongolian, Islamic and Byzantine heritage, how they used both religious toleration and conversion to integrate conquered peoples, and how, in the 19th century, they embraced exclusivity, leading to ethnic cleansing, genocide and the dynasty's demise after the First World War. Upending Western concepts of the Renaissance, the Age of Exploration, the Reformation, this account challenges our understandings of sexuality, orientalism and genocide.

Radically retelling their remarkable story, The Ottomans is a magisterial portrait of a dynastic power and the first to truly capture its cross-fertilisation between East and West.

©2021 Marc David Baer (P)2021 Hodder & Stoughton Limited Middle East Turkey Ottoman Empire Imperialism Middle Ages Africa Crusade Iran

Critic Reviews

"A book as sweeping, colorful, and rich in extraordinary characters as the empire which it describes." (Tom Holland)
All stars
Most relevant  
As you would expect. There is analysis, but overall very fact heavy. Pretty good companion to 16 Ways to Defend a Walled City actually

A lot of facts

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Really enjoyed this. Excellent for someone with very little knowledge of the subject. Very comprehensive and well constructed. Well read too. Recommend.

Comprehensive and beautifully read

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audio book, recording and narrative was great. I'm not entirely sure why it spent so much time focusing on pederasty though.

it's good, but.

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ultimately fascinating and incredibly informative. This is a well crafted tale of the Ottoman Empire that dispells many myths. I did get bogged down in the detail and nearly gave up. But perseverance paid off because, by the Napoleonic wars, the story once again became compelling. I now have a different view of European history.

incredible detail

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