The Ottomans: Khans, Caesars, and Caliphs

Written by:
Marc David Baer
Narrated by:
Jamie Parker

Unabridged Audiobook

Ratings
Book
3
Narrator
2
Release Date
October 2021
Duration
17 hours 31 minutes
Summary
This major new history of the Ottoman dynasty reveals a diverse empire that straddled East and West.
 
The Ottoman Empire has long been depicted as the Islamic, Asian antithesis of the Christian, European West. But the reality was starkly different: the Ottomans’ multiethnic, multilingual, and multireligious domain reached deep into Europe’s heart. Indeed, the Ottoman rulers saw themselves as the new Romans. Recounting the Ottomans’ remarkable rise from a frontier principality to a world empire, historian Marc David Baer traces their debts to their Turkish, Mongolian, Islamic, and Byzantine heritage. The Ottomans pioneered religious toleration even as they used religious conversion to integrate conquered peoples. But in the nineteenth century, they embraced exclusivity, leading to ethnic cleansing, genocide, and the empire’s demise after the First World War.  
 
The Ottomans vividly reveals the dynasty’s full history and its enduring impact on Europe and the world. 
Reviews
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Comer P.

A refreshing look at an old subject. The author pulls back from a detailed description of the events of more than 6 centuries of Ottoman history to assess the various phases of the empire and its many permutations. While he is rather generous about Ottoman tolerance and seems to overlook the atrocities committed by its armies over the years (siege of Famagusta, etc), he is unsparing about the Armenian genocide and the abuses of the CUP during the final years of the empire. Moreover, I am unconvinced about the author's agenda that runs through these pages emphasizing the European nature of the empire, such as its aspiration to be the legatee of Rome. That said, I very much enjoyed this thoughtful and scholarly work.

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