The Ottomans

Khans, Caesars, and Caliphs

De: Marc David Baer

Narrado por: Jamie Parker

This major new history of the Ottoman dynasty reveals a diverse empire that straddled East and West.

The Ottoman Empire has long been depicted as the Islamic Asian antithesis of the Christian European West. But the reality was starkly different: the Ottomans’ multiethnic, multilingual, and multireligious domain reached deep into Europe’s heart. Indeed, the Ottoman rulers saw themselves as the new Romans. Recounting the Ottomans’ remarkable rise from a frontier principality to a world empire, historian Marc David Baer traces their debts to their Turkish, Mongolian, Islamic, and Byzantine heritage. The Ottomans pioneered religious toleration even as they used religious conversion to integrate conquered peoples. But in the 19th century, they embraced exclusivity, leading to ethnic cleansing, genocide, and the empire’s demise after the First World War. 

The Ottomans vividly reveals the dynasty’s full history and its enduring impact on Europe and the world.

©2021 Marc David Baer (P)2021 Basic Books

Reseñas de la Crítica

“A compellingly readable account of one of the great world empires from its origins in 13th century to modern times. Drawing on contemporary Turkish and European sources, Marc David Baer situates the Ottomans squarely at the overlap of European and Middle Eastern history. Blending the sacred and the profane, the social and the political, the sublime and the absurd, Baer brings his subject to life in rich vignettes. An outstanding book.” (Eugene Rogan, author of The Fall of the Ottomans)

“Marc David Baer’s colorful, readable book is informed by all the newest research on his massive subject. In showing how an epic of universal empire, conquest and toleration turned into the drama of nationalism, crisis, and genocide, he gives us not only an expansive history of the Ottomans but an expanded history of Europe.” (James McDougall, University of Oxford)

“Marc David Baer’s The Ottomans is a scintillating and brilliantly panoramic account of the history of the Ottoman empire, from its genesis to its dissolution. Baer provides a clear and engaging account of the dynastic and high politics of the empire, whilst also surveying the Ottoman world’s social, cultural, intellectual and economic development. What emerges is an Ottoman Empire that was a direct product of and an active participant in both European and global history. It challenges and transforms how we think of ‘East’ and ‘West’, ‘Enlightenment’, and ‘modernity’, and directly confronts the horrors as well as the achievements of Ottoman rule.” (Peter Sarris, University of Cambridge)

Excellent

Not a lot to say except excellent. It was through yet not exhaustively detailed. It was a 10/10

Insightful - Asking and Answering Hard Questions

This book really bridges the gap between my understanding of the “ancient eastern” world and the modern world. In understanding the Ottomans, I feel like I finally understand the bridge between ancient history and today. European history makes a lot more sense when it includes the Ottomans.

A good start on The Ottomans

The author’s knowledge is abundantly clear. I found it very educational particularly for describing the various tribes and their religious affinities. The author covers the topic from inception to closure. There were issues towards later years of the Ottomans which the book does not comprehensively cover (role of a multitude of covert operations by the British in particular and German positioning for Palestine) but I think it may have dragged the later chapters and also got off topic. Overall it’s a good read/listen if you are interested in the topic.

Very thorough coverage

Well delivered and entertaining, this audio book did a great job of articulating a very complex history of the Ottoman Empire from beginning to end.

Excellent writing an narrative

Excellent writing an narrative a must for Western educated people like myself. Interesting and expanding horizons

Eye opening

Totally changes and enlightened one’s perception of European and Middle Eastern history. Especially this changes the perception of the first world war and the subsequent wars genocide and murder that happened in year what happened during World War II was part and parcel started by the ottomans. Highly recommend.

Great Listening!

Thoroughly enjoyed the telling of the Ottoman Empire. I love this period of history and as a Westerner learned so much about the politics and society during the 1300-1700's when the empire was flourishing.

Very good

Contains clear prejudices that comes with your average orientalist however if you can keep that in mind and look past it, this is a very simple and well written book about ottoman history.

Get this book!

I was incredibly pleased with this selection. I'm a huge ww1 fan and wanted to know more about the Ottoman Empire. I don't think I could've found a better book to listen to. This is very engaging, informative, interesting, and paced extremely well with a very talented narrator. I cannot recommend this book enough. I've listened to several historical books on Audible and haven't found any that are quite as good as this one. Not a single negative thing to say. I was surprised by just how 'European' the Ottomans were. I'm confident I will listen to this book again at some point.

A good history of the Ottomans

I enjoyed Marc's book on the history of the Ottoman Empire. It explains exactly what it describes in the title. If like me, you knew very little about this empire, then this is a great place to start. That said, it can become a long Wiki page of their entire history and gets dry in places but I guess that is what happens over a Dynasty that lasted over 600 years. Still, it might have been shorter and I would have still been ok. Marc's writing was simple and easy to digest and near the end of the dynasty, the book becomes far more interesting, most probably due to having more research material on hand. Marc ends the book well, giving an insightful POV view on world/European history and the place that the Ottoman people(s) held along with what remains and how they fit into a global system that remains to this day. A good book.