Editor’s Foreword (Jon Woronoff)
Acknowledgments
Reader’s Note
Maps
Chronology
Ottoman Sultans
Grand Viziers
Introduction
The Dictionary
Bibliography
About the Author
Selcuk Aksin Somel is assistant professor of Ottoman History in the Department of History at Bilkent University in Ankara. He is a corresponding member of the Turkish Historical Association, a member of the Foundation of Economic and Social History of Turkey, and a member of the Middle East Studies Association of North America.
In this updated and expanded edition of his 2003 work, Somel
(Ottoman history, Bilkent Univ., Turkey) charts the rise and
decline of the Ottoman Empire. He opens with a chronology of events
from 1040 to 1924 and a 30-plus-page introduction highlighting
major happenings. The alphabetically arranged entries that follow
cover historical, political, and cultural events and people in a
readable manner. Finally, Somel offers a bibliography divided into
subject areas such as “Foreign Relations and War,” “Ottoman
Classical Period,” ”Religion,” and “Cultural Life,” recognizing
many sources published since the release of the first edition.
These include Stephen Turnbull’s The Ottoman Empire 1326–1699
(Routledge, 2003), which Somel recommends as a useful tool for
English-speaking high school students, and Jason Goodwin’s Lords of
the Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire (Holt, 1999), which
he suggests as “an easy start.” The exhaustive bibliography
includes a listing of sources in French, German, and Turkish, so
scholars and readers at all levels and backgrounds should find
something of interest. VERDICT While the entries are brief, this
volume provides adequate explanation and coverage of each subtopic.
Libraries that serve advanced high school students as well as
larger public and academic collections should consider it.
*Library Journal*
Somel’s volume provides a remarkable resource for a period of
history and a portion of the world lightly addressed in
nonspecialized courses and books in history....Ultimately the
volume clearly has value for university, college, and major public
libraries as well as those of secondary schools with relevant
populations, along with those scholars and general readers whose
interests lie in the geographic areas and time periods covered.
*American Reference Books Annual*
Ask a Question About this Product More... |