Living in the Ottoman Realm: Empire and Identity, 13th to 20th Centuries.

• Author: Volaric, Klara
• Position: Book review

Edited by Christine Isom-Verhaaren and Kent F. Schull

Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2016, 367 pages, $35.00, ISBN: 9780253019431.

Reviewed by Klara Volaric, Independent Researcher

This book is a result of collaboration between the two historians who deal with early-modern (Isom-Verhaaren) and modern (Schull) history. The book is aimed primarily at students and has two main goals: to trace development and transformation of Ottoman identity from the emergence of the Ottoman state until its demise and to provide a glimpse into Ottoman everyday life based on the lives and stories of certain personalities and places throughout the Ottoman history. The book has 22 chapters (articles written by different authors) that are placed into four chronological sections.

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The first section covers the period from 13th to 15th centuries ("Emergence and Expansion: From Frontier Beylik to Cosmopolitan Empire") and consists of six articles. The first article analyses identity in the earliest period using the example of food gifts. The next essay focuses on three chronicles that describe the constant shift of the Ottoman-Byzantine frontier and thus the mix of identities that prevails there. The third describes two Genoese families living in Pera during the conquest of Istanbul and their adjustment to the new circumstances followed by an article about Mahmud-pasha Angelovic who became part of the Ottoman court through the process of devshirme but who nevertheless kept close ties to his Christian circle. The penultimate piece analyzes the work of historian Neshri and his interpretation of Ottoman identity and the last article describes the path of Sufi leader who tries to incorporate into the Ottoman elite during the interregnum period but fails in doing so by choosing the wrong side.

The second section encompasses the period from 15th to 17th centuries ("Expansion and Cultural Splendor: The Creation of Sunni Islamic Empire"). The section starts with an article that discusses the first serious attempt to create an Ottoman (religious) identity that was constructed by the leading religious official Ibn-i Kemal. The next two pieces focus on Aintab and Jerusalem respectively and how after their conquest they were ottomanized through the introduction of Ottoman administration in Aintab, or through massive building projects in the case of Jerusalem. The following essay then describes the life path of a Turkish merchant who...