[.ca] The Ottomans : Dissolving Images (ISBN 0140168796)

ignorant author about Ottomans, and terrible book:
I think the author is ignorant about Ottoman World Wide State or he has some special idealism to write whole stupid things even though everything had been explained about This one of the biggest World Wide State in the history and it is easy to see the reality that you need the quality to be the best in anything , since you were the best in the ancient time it is so disgusting that somebody like the author came out and vomit some gossips I m sorry but I think so and I hope in the future Ottoman`s mission will be displayed with honor

Give it a miss:
Uninformed and amateurish writing with more than a wiff of government grants to whitewash an ugly history. Mr. Wheatcroft would have served his book and readers better if he had done some more detailed research and if he had made an attempt to tone down his very obvious sympathies. Making all the minorities of the Ottoman empires the bad guys does not make the Ottoman empire a more likeable or liberal institution.

All in all, a less than mediocre attempt.....:
The Ottomans by Andrew Wheatcroft begins as a spotty history which flits between events alighting on some and wholly ignoring others. Even when Wheatcroft does deem it appropriate to address major occurences in Ottoman history such as the siege of Vienna, his coverage is weak, disjointed, and seemingly uninterested. It appears that even the author is bored. And, bored he may be, for in the latter half of the book Wheatcroft's true intentions are uncovered. Here, he abandons any pretense of providing a narrative of Ottoman history and launches straight into an apologia for the historic excesses of the Ottoman empire (ie. violence, corruption, sadism, torture, slavery, etc.). Indeed, Wheatcroft stoops to irresponsible moral relativism in two remarkable instances: 1) Ottoman slaveholding is defended in a comparison to the British domestic servant class. 2) The harem, in other words the literal corralling of women as if they were so many ewes, is defended in light of the civil rights not enjoyed by women in the West at that time. Apparently, in Wheatcroft's view, it is better to be owned outright, than to struggle within a system outwardly unsymapthetic to one's particular class or gender. I, for one, would opt for the struggle 100 out of 100 times. This is the 59th book I've reviewed at Amazon.com and never have I awarded a score as low as two stars. I am a confirmed bibliophile tempted to award three stars as a base point to any book simply out of my love for the written word. However, Wheatcroft's attempt at "history" is such a transparent effort at relavitism that I simply couldn't award more than I have. The Ottomans is not a book I would recommend as I see little to no merit in anything that it provides. It is, unfortunately, both dull and ill-advised.

a short overview of the ottoman empire:
I liked this book by Andrew Wheatcroft. In the introduction, he made it certain to the readerwhat he wasn't going to do, which was the entire history of the Ottaman Empire. What he does is clear up some misconceptions about the old Turkish Empire, and how they related to developments in Western Europe. If you want a defininitive book on the Turkish Empire, you should read Lord Kinross's The Ottoman Centuries or Palmer's book. Wheatcroft relates the images of the Lustful Turk, and discards those images into the trash can. What emerges is a very conservative Islamic society trying to cope with the West and not being very successful at it. The Sick Man of Europe did indeed die, but for the after effects read David Fromkin's A Peace to End All Peace.

A Successful Book From A Zealous Author.:
I liked this book. Not only for the interresting portrayal of specific Ottoman period and characters which were zealously researched that makes the book a higly capturing adventourous journey throughout the time but also for the reflection of the authors' opinion based on factual information. I did not feel compelled to agree or disagree with the author and thought it was only fair to build up on the historical documents and accessible data. This feature gave the book rather a different (and more desirable) taste rather than the one that can be found in a mere historical compilation. The author also was not trying too hard with the tone of the book as was the case in "Lord of the Horizons". Enjoyable, easy to read, an exciting book.