Ottoman Centuries

Sources are exclusively European. Very few Turkish writers are referenced (Halil Inancik, & Kemal Karpat among them), rest is English, and French. So as long as the reader keeps that in mind, it is a worthwhile book to read. I felt Kinross was being unfair at times in his description of the Turkish people, but we can't forget that the book is written from an English perspective. Biases will and do creep in. Despite the subject matter, the book is also surprisingly easy to read. Many beautiful engravings that show the Ottoman life are included. One particular Istanbul engraving from 1839, almost stopped my heart. It was spookily real!

Lord Kinross is very successful at historic storytelling.

To take a subject as vast as the empire was during its peak, and to organize it in such a coherent and readable fashion is no easy feat. He covers a lot of ground from politics to art, individual personalities to the "Ottoman Image" in the rest of the world.

But I must add that as a Turk, I was dissappointed with the fact that it had a whole lot of overlap with our dismal history courses in high school. I haven't learned much, I did not really get the perspective I hoped for.

I guess for a beginner, it's a great introductory text, but stay away from "Ottoman Centuries" if you already have a good foundation on Ottoman history.

Kinross effectively reconstructs Ottoman history in the space of several hundred pages and in doing so, gives a good overview of an important civilization without become so overly academic and thus too dense to understand. The book, although a history, is as easily readable as any novel. This perhaps is its most impressive feat - that even those of us who aren't trained historians can understand and appreciate the people and events involved therein.

My only real criticism of this book is that I would have like to have seen more about the effect of the Crusades on the early empire. Although the Ottomans came to power after the Crusader period, I was curious as to the effect of that period on their conception of Christians and Westerners in general.

Otherwise recommended.

This book serves its goal very admirably. It manages to quash centuries worth of history into several hundred pages of very readable writing. For a fairly good overview of the history of the Balkans and the entire eastern Mediterranean coast from Rome until Versailles read Julius Norwich's Byzantium series first and then follow it up with this.

Kinross has written an outstanding survey of the Ottoman Empire. He traces the history of the Empire starting with its great founder Osman, through its' highest glory at the time of its two greatest sons Mehmed The Conqueror and Suleiman The Magnificant and finally to its fall in the early 20th century. The book evolves around the sultans and thus the story is told mostly as the story of the Empire's rulers and their policies or lack thereof. However, by chosing this approach Kinross has managed to accomplish the monumental task of covering 600 years of history in one extremely interesting volume. It is therefore an excellent introduction to the subject and a good starting point for those interested in the Turkish empire. In many ways this book is similar to Norwich's excellent Byzantine Trilogy and fans of Norwich will also like this book.