Ottoman Empire and Islamic Tradition (Phoenix Book)

Rating:
Summary: Very brief and easy read: Worth it.
Review: A small book, one volume in a larger series of studies of world civilazations published by Alfred A. Knopf. The book is sadly short and very brief; nevertheless, it is a helpful, clearly conveyed essay on the inner-workings of the Ottoman Empire, touching on its roots in Islamic traditions of government.

This book is not helpful as a history: it runs through, in very general terms, the history of the Ottoman Empire only for a background understanding of what was happening on the broader scope. This book is for those that know the history pretty well and want a definite understanding of the government hierarchy, the workings of the ulema, and the meaning of the ghazi tradition.

Norman Itzkowitz is a great scholar, and this study details perfectly how the Ottoman's owed their initial success to Islamic traditions, but also owed its subsequent stagnation and decay to the inherent reactionary elements of Islam.

Well worth the read: unfortunately, the book covers only up to the reign of Selim III (the Inspired), and thus stops right before the reform era. This is understandable, since such an addition would probably entail doubling the size of the book; still, without a look into the last, turbulent century of the Ottomans, it feels incomplete.

Rating:
Summary: Simple Introduction to Ottoman Civilization
Review: This is a concise study of Ottoman culture, society and the Ottoman administrative system. The Ottoman Empire, which lasted for 700 years and included three continents, is an important but often excluded ingredient in world history. This empire should be seen like its shorter lived sister-states (Mughal India and Safavid Iran) as a descendent of the Turco-Mongol steppe tradition under which Central Asia was unified and which created the first modern, large-scale, integrated, long-distance, old-world trading system.

The book begins with several brief chapters that outline Ottoman political history while the remaninder of the book provides an overvew of Ottoman institutions.

The volume, which includes a map, chronology, glossary, and index, is very easy reading. It could be used as part of a case study comparing the Ottoman Empire with other imperial systems. A must read for anyone interested in history who has never ventured beyond Western Europe or Russia while in their armchair. This book will provide a very different perspective on European political/diplomatic history.