ÝThe Karshes'¨ ambitious aim in "Empires of the Sand" is threefold.
Firstly, they want to show that the Ottomans, even in decline, were
far from helpless, and used their diplomatic wiles with some
success in a rearguard action...Secondly, the authors maintain that
after the First World War, the boundaries of the new nation states
were determined not by popular demand of the inhabitants, but by
the ambitions of the local potentates. Finally, the Karshes blame
Ottoman imperialism itself for its downfall, and discount the
effects of the spread of European nationalist doctrines...The
Karshes make their case well, and their analysis of the events
leading to Turkey's entry into the war is thorough and
convincing...Empires of the Sand is an excellent and stimulating
work that deserves a readership beyond the world of the
professional historian. The Karshes have suggested interesting
answers to hard questions, and are worthy of thanks. -- Ralph
Ameian "The Jerusalem Post" (08/25/2000)
A complex and challenging revision of Middle Eastern political
history. -- Anthony Sattin "Sunday Times"
A provocative new history of the Middle East that in important
respects is different from any one had read before...The Ottomans
were around for a thousand years, the European portion of their
empire for about half of that time. That the ramifications are
still with us--so soon afterwards in the long view--should not
surprise. The Karshes' important book throws new, in places
probing, light on many of those ramifications. -- Colin Walters
"Washington Times"
A readable, scholarly re-examination of a long and complicated
Middle Eastern history...The Karshes provide useful historical
backgrounds to the emergence of independent countries in Egypt,
Greece, the Balkans and former Danube principalities like Serbia
and Romania. But the main purpose of this very detailed and
broad-shouldered history is to revise many of the standard
interpretations that have been given to Middle Eastern history over
the last two centuries. Most generally the Karshes dispute the idea
that the main events and developments in the region stem from the
machinations of the great powers, especially Britain and France.
The 'main impetus behind regional developments, ' they write, was
'the local actors'...The authors write clearly and authoritatively
and with great geographical sweep. They provide crisp and informed
accounts of the main events involving the Ottomans and the rest of
the world...Those who do not know much of these events will learn a
great deal from this book, while specialists with views differing
from the Karshes' will face a robust challenge to their
interpretations. -- Richard Bernstein "New York Times"
According to most accounts, the British sold dreams of Arab unity
and sovereignty down the river with the Sykes-Picot Agreement. But
in their revisionist history "The Empires of the Sand," Efraim
Karsh and Inari Karsh argue that this tale of betrayal and Western
culpability is itself a mirage...Efraim and Inari Karsh will not
escape the cloud of controversy that surrounds them with this new
history...Whatever the historical record yields on Ýtheir¨ points,
one thing is clear: Pan-Arabism, despite its decline as an active
political agenda in the region, remains a live wire. Karsh and
Karsh, with their blunt contention that the allies 'generously
rewarded' the Hashemites 'in the form of vast territories several
times the size of the British Isles, ' are likely to spark a
maelstrom of debate. -- Anna Secor "Lingua Franca"
Contrary to the supposition, popular with historians from the East
and the West, that the Ottoman Empire was slowly bled to death by
the great powers of Europe who later fed upon its imperial remains,
Efraim and Inari Karsh argue that the great powers repeatedly
bolstered the toppling empire, that the Ottomans played a
considerable part in their own demise, and that 'the main impetus
for the developments of this momentous period came from the local
actors'...All in all, the Karshes make a strong case that 'greed
rather than necessity drove the Ottoman Empire into the First World
War.' -- Charles M. Stang "Boston Book Review"
In a "tour de force" that offers a profoundly new understanding of
a key issue in modern Middle Eastern history, Efraim and Inari
Karsh review the relations between Europe and the Ottoman empire in
the final century-and-a-half of the latter's existence, and in the
process nearly reverse the standard historical
interpretation...Drawing on a wide range of original sources, and
writing in a clearly organized fashion and in fast-paced prose, the
Karshes make a very compelling case for their revisionist position,
establishing it point by point and in elegant detail...In all, I
can hardly remember last reading so important and daring a
reinterpretation of Middle Eastern history, or one so laden with
implications. -- Daniel Pipes "Commentary"
In this striking reinterpretation of the modern history of the
Middle East, the authors discard the traditional view of Middle
Eastern rulers and peoples as passive, near helpless victims of
Western imperialist machinations. Rather, they convincingly portray
both Ottoman and Arab leaders as active players in the game of
power politics...The authors have superbly integrated an
interesting cast of characters with broad historical forces. The
result is an original and provocative reexamination of the recent
history of this vital region. -- Jay Freeman "Booklist"
The authors assault the prevailing wisdom that the decline of the
ÝOttoman Empire¨ was inevitable; they claim, rather, that it
resulted from a series of poor choices made by its leaders. This
approach is both provocative and productive, as the authors,
relying on an impressive array of archival and secondary sources,
demonstrate how the Ottoman leaders sealed their own fate--their
decision to play cat-and-mouse with both sides during WWI was only
the final error in a series of blunders.
The chief goal of the authors of "Empires of the Sand" is to
explain the volatility of the twentieth-century Middle East in
terms of its origins in the nineteenth century... In seeking to do
so, they have presented a carefully-researched and well-written
work. -- William Ochsenwald "MESA Bulletin"
This is a fascinating book. -- Geoffrey Wheatcroft "Sunday
Telegraph"
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