Synopses & Reviews
At midnight, December 31, 1925, citizens of the newly proclaimed Turkish Republic celebrated the New Year. For the first time ever, they had agreed to use a nationally unified calendar and clock.
Review
"King has combed out the threads of this complex and highly nuanced story in a hugely enjoyable, magnificently researched and deeply absorbing book." Jason Goodwin
Review
"Superb--deliciously dense with detail and sheer narrative force as Charles King tells the twentieth-century history of the Near East through the prism of one great city. A sepia-toned classic!" New York Times Book Review
Review
"Popular history at its best, authoritative and hugely entertaining. Few places were as colorful as Istanbul between the wars and Professor King captures all the chaotic brio and contradictions of a city, and a culture, reinventing itself." Robert D. Kaplan, author of The Revenge of Geography and Eastward to Tartary
Review
"In this memorably distilled history, Charles King tells us just what the Pera Palace was--the ornately decaying hotel crouched at the center of a mare's nest of intrigue, violence, sex, and espionage, all set against the slow dimming of Ottoman magnificence. I loved this book." Joseph Kanon, author of Istanbul Passage
Review
"This social history of one of the world's most fascinating cities is as illuminating as it is entertaining. Characters from Trotsky to Hemingway, from a blind Armenian musician to a future pope, help tell the story of how Istanbul transformed itself from a refugee-clogged backwater into a vibrant metropolis. is a true Turkish delight." Simon Winchester, author of Krakatoa and The Map that Changed the World
Review
"A diverse cast, ranging from Muslim beauty queens and Georgian royalty to Leon Trotsky, have left their mark on Istanbul, and King nimbly weaves their threads with enough color to draw in general readers and enough detail to satisfy specialists." Stephen Kinzer, author of Crescent and Star: Turkey Between Two Worlds and Reset
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"Elegant... multiple biographies unfold against the backdrop of an old city's growing pains." Publishers Weekly
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"An engaging, detailed look at the old city that became the newest of them all." Kate Tuttle Boston Globe
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"Fascinating and perceptive." Melissa Davis Seattle Times
Synopsis
"Timely . . . brilliant . . . hugely enjoyable, magnificently researched and deeply absorbing."--Jason Goodwin,
About the Author
Charles King is a professor of international affairs at Georgetown University. A frequent media commentator on global issues, he is the author of Odessa, Midnight in the Pera Palace, and other books. He lives in Washington, DC.