Book : Gods Shadow Sultan Selim, His Ottoman Empire, And The

-Titulo Original : Gods Shadow Sultan Selim, His Ottoman Empire, And The Making Of The Modern World

-Fabricante :

Liveright

-Descripcion Original:

An “arresting” (New York Times Book Review) revisionist history demonstrating how Islam and the Ottoman Empire made our modern world. The history of the Ottoman Empire once the most powerful state on earth, ruling over more territory and people than any other world power has for centuries been distorted, misrepresented, and suppressed in the West. With this “original and wide-ranging” (Wall Street Journal) global history, Alan Mikhail vitally recasts the Ottoman conquest of the world through the dramatic biography of Sultan Selim I (1470-1520). Drawing on previously unexamined sources, and upending prevailing shibboleths about Islamic history and jingoistic “rise of the West” theories, Mikhail’s game-changing account radically transforms our understanding of the importance of Selim’s Ottoman Empire in the annals of the modern world. 16 pages of illustrations; 40 illustrations Review Gods Shadow is full of fine details of this cross-cultural encounter, but its most arresting aspect is Mikhails second claim: that the Ottoman Empire made our modern world. He calls his book a revisionist account ... demonstrating Islams constituent role in forming some of the most fundamental aspects of the history of Europe, the Americas and the United States. From it, he says, a bold new world history emerges, one that overturns shibboleths that have held sway for a millennium. Whether politicians, pundits and traditional historians like it or not, the world we inhabit is very much an Ottoman one.... The story is always interesting.... The highest praise for a history book is that it makes you think about things in a new way.--Ian Morris - New York Times Book Review[A] refreshingly readable history book that offers a new world view.... It challenges conventional Eurocentric narratives about the Matamoros (moorslaying) Christopher Columbus and the triggers for the Protestant Reformation. A radical picture of the Ottoman Empire emerges as a unified juggernaut conquering and controlling three continents, while Europe was a mosaic of squabbling polities. How I wish Id been in Damascus when Selim discovered the tomb of Ibn Arabi.--Diana Darke - Times Literary SupplementCaptivating.... A welcome and important corrective, Mikhails recalibration of the modern era is ambitious and provocative.... Mikhail writes authoritatively, as one would expect from so accomplished a historian. He writes accessibly and vividly, too, which means that the book, while scholarly, is readable, enjoyable, and relatable.... A terrific guide to the Ottomans during a period of profound change.--Peter Frankopan - Air MailIf you want a ticket out of 2020, may I recommend this biography of bloodthirsty Ottoman Sultan Selim I (1470-1520)? It not only argues that Columbuss voyage to America happened because Europeans were busy avoiding the Turks, itll also tell you that the Turks had a thing for moles (in 1470, a Sufi mystic predicted that the next sultan would have seven moles, and indeed Selim was born with seven). Theres also fratricide (a rite of passage for sultans-to-be), insane concubine politics, and circumcision festivals, and it sent me down a rabbit hole reading up on sultans. Hows this for a jetpack out of the present: Look up Ibrahim the Mad (1615-1648), who was raised in a gilded cage, loved plus-size ladies, and drowned 280 women from his harem when he was paranoid that another man had tampered with them.--Sandi Tan - GlamourMikhail, chair of Yales history department and a specialist in Ottoman history, makes it his mission to demonstrate how this utterly compelling leader helped define his age, bending the world to his will. And he succeeds with a flourish.... Mikhail offers a refreshingly Ottoman-centric picture of the 15th- and 16th-century Mediterranean.--Justin Marozzi - The SpectatorIn this revelatory and wide-ranging account, Yale historian Mikhail . . . recreates the life of Sultan Selim I (1470-1520