My book review is at http://www.AdvancePolling.com

Kinzer´s book is a wonderful read to understand Turkish 20th century history and politics and the challenges that the country has faced and faces in being in the crossroads of Europe and Middle East, with multiple ethnicities and religions. The book basically covers the period from Ataturk to Erdogan, discusses Kemalism, the Army, Religion, Kurdish problems, Armenian past, and the democratization challeges. Turkey´s strive for EU membership and the changing foreign policy of country are also covered by the author. Ahmet Davutoglu´s role as Erdogan´s personal adviser on foreign affairs was briefly described and it was interesting reading to see how he carved Turkey´s foreign policy strategy from 2000 onwards. Personally I missed the coverage of what happened in Northern Cyprys in a bit more detail, given that this was one of the official stoppers in Turkey´s EU membership negotiations, but otherwise the book was great and insightful reading!! Kinzer´s last "meze" chapter summarizing some of the book´s main themes and making a parallel on those to american "blues" was a very nice way to finish the book.

An interesting read if only because Kinzer is tending to approach Turkey from a Turkey-is-European (or at least proto-European) than a Turkey-is-fundamentally-different standpoint. I worry that Kinzer is eliding some important differences even though he does do a fine job of balancing his viewpoint.

As with any book written about a country by a non-native, I also worry about his pile of "reccomendations" for Turkey, and am concerned that his obvious pro-Europe slant is coloring his perceptions of the country. Unfortunately, I don't know that much about recent Turkey so I don't know how much of his view is accurate and how much is totally slant.

Having said all of that, it's obvious that Kinzer did his research, and it's obvious that he loves Turkey. He doesn't shy away from tackling the big subjects in Turkey and Turkish history (Armenians, Kurds, etc). It's nice to read a book by someone who cares so much about the subject he's writing about. I just worry about his conclusions.

I strongly recommend this to anyone traveling to Turkey or just interested in learning more about Turkey. The historical background Kinzer gives is fascinating and not totally unbiased. But it's clear that he has done his research and has a strong love for the culture and the people of Turkey so I quickly trusted his viewpoint. And just when you need it, he is able to digress and lyrically discuss pieces of culture not tied in with the politics, like the ceremony of drinking riki or the beauty of the Bosphorus.