THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Carter Vaughn Findley writes the kind of history that Lee most enjoys reading.  His TURKEY, ISLAM, NATIONALISM AND MODERNITY would never strike anyone as a real page turner; however, his narrative accomplishes a good deal in terms of pulling together historical data (political, military, economic, social and literary) in such a way as to turn the conclusions reached by monographic research into useful and insightful knowledge that helps animate the present through an understanding of the past.

From the onset of European expansionism in the eighteenth century well into the twentieth century, the challenges faced first by the Ottoman Empire and later by the Turkish nation state were comprised of essentially the same external and internal issues: how to maintain the integrity of the empire / nation in the face of external aggression by neighboring states and growing internal ethnic and religious division.  

Early in the nineteenth century, following a period of nascent democratic political movement, Sultan Abdulhamid  reasserted autocratic control and personally presided over an effort at widespread modernization induced by prevailing Western influences at work throughout the wider world.  Changes introduced, unfortunately, only furthered the dismemberment and division of the Ottoman Empire as Europeans acquired more and more control over peripheral areas and differing Greek / Kurdish / Armenian /  Bulgarian / Balkan / Islamic / Christian / Jewish issues further divided the Sultan's subjects into contentious subcategories.  The emergence of the Young Turks at the turn of the twentieth century did little to solve the resulting disarray (aside from eventually ending the Sultanate altogether and presiding over the rise of a secular and military alternative which, in turn, set the stage for the current state of affairs).

The complex struggles faced since the early decades of the nineteenth century have been daunting indeed.  Furthermore, what we now think of as "Turkey" didn't even emerge on the scene until after World War I .  Yet the historical record, however, multifaceted and confusing, still impacts the present.  As a result, having become somewhat familiar with what took place over the past couple of centuries, Lee looks forward especially to seeing the influences of prior events, personalities and institutions on contemporary life and culture as we explore both that past (plus even earlier times!) and the present in today's Turkey..