Alex
This social history of Istanbul from 1914 to 1950 is unusually well-written and well-structured. The author does an excellent job of zooming down into individual lives which exemplify trends in the period, while also zooming out to paint a broader picture of Turkey and the region in the throes of two world wars and the creation of the Turkish state. King has a flair for epigram and, unlike other books in this genre, actually does manage to make the Pera Palace -- the hotel at the center of the book -- an organizing principle of the narrative. I came to this book as someone who knew nothing about the topic, and found it very informative and rewarding, so I'd definitely recommend it to others, even non-academic readers. I suspect even experts will not be able to find much to complain about in this well-done, deeply-researched, and accessible text.
This social history of Istanbul from 1914 to 1950 is unusually well-written and well-structured. The author does an excellent job of zooming down into individual lives which exemplify trends in the period, while also zooming out to paint a broader picture of Turkey and the region in the throes of two world wars and the creation of the Turkish state. King has a flair for epigram and, unlike other books in this genre, actually does manage to make the Pera Palace -- the hotel at the center of the book -- an organizing principle of the narrative. I came to this book as someone who knew nothing about the topic, and found it very informative and rewarding, so I'd definitely recommend it to others, even non-academic readers. I suspect even experts will not be able to find much to complain about in this well-done, deeply-researched, and accessible text.