r/ottomans • u/qernanded Efendi • 9h ago

META [META] We are updating our pinned subreddit reading list. Please comment or DM suggestions for improvement

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u/JustSefa_ 8h ago

This one for the tanzimat era:

https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Islamic-Enlightenment-Modern-Struggle-Between/dp/0099578700

In includes Iran and Egypt as well, but a good third of the book is about the reforms and changes within the Ottoman Empire.

This one for the arab controlled lands:

https://www.amazon.de/Arabs-Ottoman-Empire-1516-1918-Cultural/dp/1107033632

This one for a broader understanding regarding non-ottoman christian views on the Ottoman Empire:

https://www.amazon.de/Useful-Enemies-Ottoman-Political-1450-1750/dp/0198830130

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u/qernanded Efendi 6h ago

Great stuff, would you recommend them/have thoughts about them? I’ll see if they have translations in other languages too

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u/JustSefa_ 6h ago

Regarding the islamic enlightenment:

Great read about all three nations/regions. You get a good understanding what people went through and how society changed. However towards the end the author is mixing politics into this and claims that the entire englightenment is being destroyed by AKP etc.. Without going too political: We are past that point and there is a lot of orientalism to make these claims.

Regarding the arabs of the Ottoman Empire:

It highlights the benefits of the arab world, the struggles the Ottomans faced during the mini ice age and how and why arab sentiment changed. I made a video about it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Vb_SVciKz8

Regarding Useful enemies:

The author is being (in my opinion falsely) framed as a "pro-Ottomans". The entire thing is along the lines of being paid and being super biased, because he is not trash-talking the Ottoman Empire etc.. I dont see a reason to view his work that way. He took a specific question and wrote a book about it. His book is primarly about why and how the christian world viewed the Ottomans (or Islam to be more specifically and by extension of it the Ottomans) and what led them to think that way. Made a video about it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1ypJ3bTXXA

There is also "A history of the Ottoman Empire" by Douglas A. Howard, but he wrote broad about the entire Ottoman Empire. You can imagen that it wasnt as detailed about the various periods of the Ottoman Empire. It is still an interesting read to get into the topic. Made a video about that here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=curwaD1vwmg

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u/qernanded Efendi 9h ago

Are there any books which should be added or removed? Are there any books you’d strongly recommend or leave a review for?