The Ottomans: Khans, Caesars, and Caliphs Hardcover – October 5, 2021

The way this book is written is my favorite way for a book to be written. Fearless in tackling concepts and historic behavior that seem foreign to us, and so often causes knee-jerk reactions that are uninformed and anachronistic (topics such as sex, boy-love, eunuchs, forced religious conversions, boy-tributes, the roles of women, etc.). This book shies away from covering absolutely nothing. The level of detail is graphic, satisfying, and informative. And for that, I love it!

Marc David Baer’s The Ottomans: Khans, Caesars, and Caliphs provides an enjoyable introduction to the history and culture of the Ottoman Empire. I thought I might be overwhelmed by the many unfamiliar names, but key historical figures stand out—I wasn’t overwhelmed. It helps that the author provides a guide to pronunciation. Also provided are excellent maps, right at the beginning of the book. Too often in other books I stumble across maps after I needed them because there was no in-text citation to guide me to the map. The Ottomans is organized appropriately. We start with the rise of the Ottoman Empire. Then we leave the timeline and cover aspects of Ottoman culture, like the harems and the surprising (to me) prevalence and acceptance of pederasty. Then we return to the timeline to chart the empire’s decline, fall, and replacement with modern Turkey. Overall, The Ottomans is a good book, but there is room for a second edition. While well-written, a little editing could tighten things up. There are several cases where a topic is discussed, we move on, the topic comes up again, and the topic is treated as if it was a new topic. At least that’s how the prose reads. This leaves the reader asking, Did I read about this earlier or didn’t I? In a similar vein, we have the following: “The shadow-government … promoted Mustafa Kemal to field marshal, conferring upon him the messianic title of ‘savior’ and the old Ottoman title of gazi, holy warrior. [Next paragraph] Turning his back on Ottoman Muslim nationalism … Mustafa Kemal adopted the title of gazi. …” Books are written by piecing smaller fragments together, but in The Ottomans the pieces are not always well-integrated. More important, The Ottomans only touches on some topics that should be addressed head on, perhaps in their own chapters. There is mention of slavery throughout The Ottomans, but no explanation of how it worked. Once enslaved, was slavery lifelong? (There is one mention of a person being freed.) Was slavery inherited? There are several mentions of rent farms, but no explanation of rent farming. What is it? Was there an ethnic component, with Muslims being the big landowners and non-Muslims peasants? Did the empire expand in part to allow for more rent farms and, therefore, more revenue? There was an interesting means of government in the Ottoman Empire, but it is only mentioned briefly. The church and the state were one, but there was more than one church within the state, so a person would be governed by his or her own church and not someone else’s. How did that work? I don’t know. Overall, The Ottomans is a good book. I learned a lot from it. But The Ottomans left me with some important questions unanswered, so four stars out of five.

Marc David Baer’s book deals with the role of the Ottoman Empire in building both modern Europe and present-day Türkiye. It dispels long established myths like Ottoman barbaric behavior and emphasizes their contribution to history, culture and social development of the Old Continent. On the positive side it describes the role of the Ottomans on bridging Europe and Central Asia and the Far East both economically and culturally. On the negative aspects it explains the explosion of ultranationalism that led to the Armenian genocide, and the destruction of the Empire followed by the birth of the Turkish Republic. It is not just an enlightening but also a captivating lecture. Highly recommended for those who want to explore, enjoy and understand Eastern Europe, the Near and Middle East and their surroundings in relation to what we call the West.

Keeps you interested.Not dry at all

This book has a very easy to follow style like a novel yet it has all the necessary details to understand the history of one of Europe’s giant powers of the past. It covers events and peoples with insights to understand social and political trends of the time.

I feel the author is very informed and a strong expert on the Ottoman history. I was hoping to get a whole history of how they started, the rise and the fall of the empire. What part of their culture is still evident in the world today and how the wars and policies effectively created the world we know today. I was not disappointed! It was very comprehensive and easy to follow. I enjoyed reading itWhere I would put some constructive feedback is in the way in which the author tries to rationalize some of the bad things the culture did. Either by way of their religion, social structure or saying that other countries did the same. It was assumed that 'tolerance' of the Christians, or other religions, was benevolent and almost altruistic. I do not find this to be true. It was almost like the author was justifying the way that the Islamic faith subjugated, murdered or taxed other religions...when it should be looked down onBut overall, I was very happy with this book and commend the author on a very organized and entertaining book

A well researched book on a topic that should enlighten every reader who wants to find out more about the Ottoman Empire and its contributions to modernity.

The OttomansThis is a great mess of a book, which tries in one volume to provide a coherent social as well as a political and military history of the Ottoman Empire, which stretches across 634 years, from 1288 to 1922.This may be too much to ask of any one book, and ‘The Ottomans’ does not really succeed in adequately addressing all of these objectives, but along the way, you do get a good deal of interesting information. You will learn about:-Deviant Dervishes.-Harem Politics.-Succession by Fratricide.-The Unusual Longevity of Palace Eunuchs.-Pederasty.-Rape (No gender is safe).-Mass Slaughters.-Forced Conversions.-Kabbalah and the Latter-day Jewish Messiah Sabbatai Levi-Portents of Disaster.-The Armenian Genocide (one among many).-The Kurdish Genocide (hasn’t happened yet but it is possible given the record so far).Go ahead and read it, but it is best to sip it in small doses and take notes along the way.