Good Book Review About The Emergence Of Modern Turkey (Bernard Lewis)

Every review of different types of books becomes unique, as the impressions from the book vary depending on cultural, ethical and different other types of tastes. The book, which is going to be reviewed in several paragraphs lower, is the non-fictional historic book by Bernard Lewis under the name “The Emergence of Modern Turkey”. It was published in 1960 in London, for the first time, with the copyrights of Royal Institute of International Affairs in 1961; however, the paper is going to review the second edition of the book, which was published in London, on May 1967; therefore, it contained the new documents and materials, including the memoirs, which have found their new explanation here. It also provides an updated bibliography and additional materials for further reading, which appears to be also the strong side of the book.
The main purpose of the book is the description of a new Turkey appearing after the years of the Ataturk`s party decline; therefore, the book is divided into two main parts: the first one describes the life of Turkey and its civilization in chronological aspect when the part of Ataturk was about to leave the country without its regulations. The second part of the book tells the readers how the country and its population were continuously changing their visions of culture, religion, governmental practice, the ways of commercial cooperation and many other aspects of life till nowadays. Just like any other exploratory book, it contains the introductory part, which describes the basic moments about the country, including the key factors of appearance and development of Turkish nation and the section of conclusions and future perspectives of the country`s development and its possible opportunities and threats.
The book is written in a non-fictional manner, mostly from the first point of view, as the author uses “I” and “We”; therefore, this way of narration makes the book more simple to understand. Nevertheless, the book doesn`t require a reader to be a scholar and/or a specialist in history, sociology and geography, as the detailed explanations to all the peculiarities of the books are also given. The book is a great resource of knowledge about the country, which is easy to access, easy to read and understand. The clarity of words and narration with its fluidity also confirm this. Moreover, for detailed and further understanding of the subject, the book contains the cited bibliography, which can be used as the source for more in-depth exploration of the subject for the interested readers. The three big maps mentioned in the end of the book make the narration also more illustrative, understandable and provide the reader with a necessary graphic and visual experience.
The structure of the book is logically designed and provides the further understanding of the subject from one section to another, as the first part of the book contains eight main sections-chapters that give the chronological explanations of different periods of country`s development tracking the changes necessary for the explanation: from the annihilation of the Ottoman Empire in the first chapter (Chapter II, as the book gives the number “I” to the Introduction) to the explanation of Kemalist Republic and its further decline in the last two chapters. The Part II contains five different chapters with the detailed explanations of the changes, which the country has undergone through the years of its development. Each chapter gives the detailed explanation to the changes in Turkish community, the Government of the country, its culture and religion, ending with the narration about the different classes` formation and the appearance of Turkish elite.
As for the personal impressions after reading the book, I would like to say that the book unraveled many different mysteries about the country and explained many things about the country and the nation, which were not easy for me to understand. However, taking into consideration, that I`ve never been to this country and knew about it and its people only from the news and different Internet articles, such impression is also easy to understand. Although, if a person, just like me, has never visited the country, but is interested either in its history, or its culture, the reading of the book can be an adequate substitute to the country`s visit, as it describes the scientific research of a scholar that has visited Turkey on the onset of Turkish changes, in the period of 1954 – 1959. Moreover, the first edition of the book has been revised according to the feedbacks from the scholars from different countries, leaving their comments and suggestions. Therefore, the second edition of the book appears to be more adequate and objective comparing to the firs variant of publication.
Taking into consideration my personal impressions from the book and the author`s intensions to describe the topic on the highest and deepest point, I`m concluding that the author achieved his main goal with this book, as it has given the detailed explanation of the Turkey of modern years, in cultural, political and sociological aspects.
I would definitely recommend the book for reading not only for the historians and the students of history, but for all the people that are interested in finding out something new and elevating their mind; moreover, if you would like to find out more about the history of the country, you`re welcome to pay attention to the first part of the book; however, if you`re more interested in the profound explanation of different aspects of country`s changes, you will find the second part of the book more interesting.
This was the review of Bernard Lewis`s creation, “The Emergence of Modern Turkey”, which has the self-explanatory name and the content; therefore, every person should get acquainted with the book and with other Lewis`s works, as well.