Turkey and the Turks

'A marriage of the East and West' aptly portrays the formation of the Turkish nation. Partly in Europe, mostly in Asia, and occupying a position between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, Turkey for many centuries formed a pivot on which balanced European and Asiatic development. Its capital city, Istanbul, commands the passage between two continents, at the point of contact between two civilisations. Here stood the ancient Greek city of Byzantium and, in the days of the Greek Empire, Constantinople was the city par excellence, centre of the civilised world. W.S. Monroe's work is interesting historically for it provides a complete picture of Turkey immediately before the Young Turk Revolution in 1908, which led eventually to the formation of the Turkish Republic in 1923. The author provides a concise geographical account of the region and its influence upon the growth of the Turkish nation. He follows the rise of the Ottoman Empire and traces the influences of many races, Greeks, Armenians, Hebrews, Kurds, Albanians and Persians, among others. The effects of Islam on its culture and politics is also studied in depth. Over fifty photographs are included in the work, reproduced in facsimile from the first edition.