A History of the Ottoman Empire by Douglas A. Howard (PDF)

Description

Covering the full history of the Ottoman Empire, from its genesis in post-Mongol Eurasia to its dissolution after the Great War in Europe, this textbook takes a holistic approach, considering the Ottoman worldview – what it was, how it came together, and how it fell apart. Douglas A. Howard stresses the crucial role of the Ottoman sultans and their extended household, discusses the evolution of the empire’s fiscal model, and analyzes favorite works of Ottoman literature, emphasizing spirituality, the awareness of space and time, and emotions, migration, violence, disease, and disaster. Following how people spent their time, their attitudes towards authority, how they made their money, and their sense of humor and sense of beauty, this illustrated textbook is an essential resource for graduate and advanced undergraduate, courses on the history of the Ottoman Empire, the Middle East, Islamic history, and the history of Eastern Europe. The book includes over eighty illustrations, maps and textboxes.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Great book concise well written great story telling

⭐The description of this book on Amazon and GoodReads is 100% accurate. The book is well written, informative, and takes a humanistic approach to its subject matter that I enjoyed and often find lacking in many history books. The approach gives the reader a glimpse into the national soul of an Ottoman citizen, particularly a citizen of Turkish decent. One comes away with a sense of the character of an Ottoman citizen and the Ottoman world outlook that also helps explain how the Empire was able to govern such a diverse group of peoples for so long.However, be warned that this is not intended as an introduction to the history of the Ottoman Empire. As advertised, if you consider it as a college history textbook, it is designed for graduate and advanced undergraduate students. I do not think it is as accessible to the general reader as some of the academic reviewers suggest. The author assumes the reader has a basic understanding of the Empire’s general formation, territory, diverse cultures and place in Islamic history. If one does not have such a basic understanding, one may spend a lot of time looking up events and people on Google to get a framework to better understand the context of what you are reading.

⭐This is a very lucidly written book that explains the history of the Ottoman Empire from its early mystical past to the rise and glory in the Ottoman’s crown jewel – Constantinople, and its eventual collapse after World War One. This book is written in a textbook style, but is very comprehensive in that it covers the social life, the rise of the Islamic forces, the wars, and the culture of the Ottomans. It sets out what the Ottomans replaced, what had gone, and what now remains. The only complaint one might have is that the book size is a trifle too big to carry around.

⭐I was assigned this book for a college course.I like the prose- it’s very readable. The images on pages frequently don’t relate to the given text, though. Page 120, for example, is an image of one of the Pergamum Urns. The only place those urns are mentioned in the book is in that image.I have two suggestions for the editors/author.Please use more maps and include at least one map of the empire at its peak, with prominent cities labeled. A map section in the appendix with maps of the empire over the centuries (eg 14th century, 15th c, 16th…) would be helpful. Five of the ten maps in the text only look at Anatolia.I would have appreciated a timeline of significant events and people. I sometimes got lost in the sections- maybe it was my unfamiliarity with Ottoman Turkish names- and felt that a timeline would have been a nice reference.

⭐This doesn’t seem to be a good beginning book on the topic of Ottoman History. It seems to presuppose a certain level of knowledge of the Ottoman Empire. It combines a narrative with cultural and financial/economic history – which is a good thing, but I think it’s a book you would want to read after reading a more general History of the Empire.

⭐This book is very readable and rather enjoyable. However, it really is not a “history” of the Ottoman Empire, in that one would not be able to read this book and create a coherent outline of Ottoman history. Rather much of the book consists of a series of sketches. I was disappointed because I found the authors book, “The History of Turkey,” very useful in outlining Turkish history.

⭐I was expected in details description on Ottoman Empire. Author superficially described and overlooked Sultan Suleyman’s 44 years rule including other two rulers.

⭐very informative. An easy read. Gave as gift.

⭐Sadly I had to throw in the towel at the halfway point with this book. I am convinced the author knows his stuff but he failed to communicate much of it to this reader. A glossary would have been invaluable and a decent full page map at the start of the book would have helped to illustrate the geographical extent of the Ottoman Empire. All the illustrations in the book are monochrome which in itself is not a bad thing but I felt I was reading a volume that had been published around 1900; quaint but not exactly up to date. I had hoped for enlightenment but it was not to be.

⭐Scholarly, if a bit dry at times. Should be required reading though for anyone involved in creating foreign policy. A centuries old cultural mosaic whose dissolution following WW1, and the self serving machinations of those who most benefitted from it’s collapse, resulted in the fractured Middle East of today. A fine example of what not to do.

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