Product Description

With the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after the First World War came the emergence of new nations, chief among them Turkey itself. It was the creation of one man, the soldier-statesman Mustafa Kemal, who dragged his country from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century, and in defeating Western imperialists inspired 'the cause of the East'. Lord Kinross writes of the intrigues of empires, the brutalities of civil war, personal courage - showing us Ataturk, the incarnation of glory - as well as of Kemal's youthful ambition, and his problems with his wife.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30405 in Books
• Published on: 2001-11-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 560 pages

From the Publisher
“A life-size portrait of a man…a splendid culmination…absorbing…full of life and incident and colour, and worthy of its theme.” Geoffrey Lewis, The Observer

About the Author
Patrick Kinross was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, after which he became a journalist. During World War II he was posted as intelligence officer to the Middle East and later served as press counsellor at the British Embassy in Cairo.

Customer Reviews

a masterpiece - helping one to understand an iconic personality
Have you ever been in Ankara and visited the Anýtkabir, the mausoleum of Ataturk? During every visit to Turkey one can escape the name, a picture or a bust of Ataturk. The present troubles in Turkey over the election of a new president and the possible EU-membership of Turkey have drawn more and lore attentions to this iconic figure and his political visions and ideas.

Not only in its beginning, but to this day the Republic of Turkey tied with his person and his ideas. His political guidelines, the principles of the Kemalismus, are held up like a dogma. These are: a republic for the purposes of people's sovereignty, nationalism as an idiom against the multinational state of the Ottoman Empire, populism as an expression of the interests of the people and not of a certain class, constant continuation of reforms, a partially econocmic steering by the state and separation of state and religion. The last aspect at present very much the issue of politcial debate.

But who was this extraordinary man? Where did he come from? How did he achieve his goal? What is his legacy? John Patrick Douglas Balfour, 3rd Baron Kinross, answered in his masterpiece these questions. It helped me a lot to understand. It is not an easy, but a rewarding reading which made me think a lot. A fantastic book. 5 stars without a shadow of a doubt.

Stunning Autobiography of a 20th Century Collossus
To understand the effect Ataturk had on Turkey you have to go there and see the reverence is held in. This is despite Ataturk being an agnostic and an iconoclast who changed the very nature of the rump of the Ottoman Empire.

The most startling facts are his social reforms including that he started with an illiterate nation and within 20 years had given it its own language back and a new alphabet. This latter fact lead to the population becoming more literate quickly and indeed may explain why Arabic Countries still have high levels of illiteracy i.e. calligraphic languages are difficult to write and read.

The new found purpose given by Ataturk means that Turkey remains the most dynamic Muslim country with a low danger of slipping into Islamism due the freedoms granted to all and the presence of the Armed Forces to guard his legacy.

Some issues have been skated over namely the Armenian massacres but this no way detracts from a cracking good read.

Lord Kinross's legendary biography is still the best
Lord Kinross was a great authority on Turkish history and a brilliant writer, to boot: the combination of erudition, flair and beautiful writing is irresisitible. His "Ottoman Centuries" is the best available history of the Ottoman empire and has remained in print for a quarter of a century. Now his legendary biography of Atatürk, first published in 1969 and long recognised as the best, is available again. Buy one quick before it disappears.