The Ottoman Empire

By: Kenneth W. Harl, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Kenneth W. Harl

By understanding the dramatic story of the Ottoman Empire - from its early years as a collection of raiders and conquerors to its undeniable power in the 15th and 16th centuries to its catastrophic collapse in the wreckage of the First World War - one can better grasp the current complexities of the Middle East.

Over the course of these 36 enlightening lectures, investigate over 600 years of history that covers the nature of Ottoman identity, the achievements of the Sultan's court, and stories of confrontation and cooperation with the West.

Befitting a story of such epic scope and grandeur, every lecture is a treasure trove of historical insights into the people, events, themes, and locales responsible for shaping the story of this often-overlooked empire. You'll cover everything from Rumi, the whirling dervishes, and the importance of the sultan's grand viziers to the wars of Sultan Suleiman I, the shadowy politics of the Committee of Union and Progress, and the birth of the Turkish Republic under Kemal Atatürk.

Welcome to a fascinating story of the triumph and tragedy, war and peace, intellectual progress and civil insurrection of a great empire that, for all its glory and grandeur, has left an important legacy that will shape the future of the Balkan nation-states, the Turkish Republic, and the Arab world - and those of us in the West as well.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2017 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2017 The Great Courses

Good clear sum-up of the history for anyone who wants understand this period in time.

A good distinction is made about why this empire was not "Turkish" or Arabic, but Muslim.
Also, provides good background about the modern day conflicts between Serbia and Bosnia.

A solid treatment with some rough edges

Professor Harl covers the facts and broad sweep of this subject with the kind of confident grasp that we expect from the Great Courses. I did find that his diction took some getting used to (many umms and ahhs, with rapid fire delivery) and I found myself wishing he did a better job of tying the raw facts into overarching themes. A note about his treatment of the Armenian genocide: I disagree with a number of reviewers that he presented a Turkish apologia. He did go out of his way to clarify the Turkish perspective of the events, which I took to be an important scholarly service. Overall, recommended.

Another Excellent Series from Professor Harl

This is probably my seventh or eighth Great Courses lecture series by Professor Harl, and I have yet to be disappointed. The Ottoman Empire has always been one of my historical blind spots, and now I am confident in saying that is no longer the case

great read

this audiobook fills many of the gaps not covered in mainstream high school and college history classes. powerful historical context .

Another excellent series from Harl

Kenneth Harl and the Great Courses knock another one out of the park with this lecture series. Harl continues to be an excellent narrator/lecturer offering qualified, yet informative, commentary on the roughly 700 years of the Ottoman Empire. At once, the course offers both a more in-depth and a more easily digestible version of historical audiobooks compared to any competing company I've read.

The Ottoman lecture series is a perfect compliment to his other series on Byzantium, and does much to overturn uninformed assumptions about the Ottomans as well as convey a powerful sense of how the Ottoman Empire--and its recent dissolution--shape so much of the modern world, particularly the areas of eastern Europe and the Middle East.