Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

My Name Is Red (Vintage International)

by Orhan Pamuk, Erdag? M. Go?knar

At once a fiendishly devious mystery, a beguiling love story, and a brilliant symposium on the power of art, My Name Is Red is a transporting tale set amid the splendor and religious intrigue of sixteenth-century Istanbul, from one of the most prominent contemporary Turkish writers. The Sultan has commissioned a cadre of the most acclaimed artists in the land to create a great book celebrating the glories of... (more)

The Janissary Tree: A Novel

by Jason Goodwin

When Jason Goodwin explored the Ottoman Empire in Lords of the Horizons , The New York Times Book Review hailed it as “a work of dazzling beauty…the rare coming together of historical scholarship…with luminous writing.” Now he returns to Istanbul, with a delicious mystery— The Janissary Tree . It is 1836. Europe is modernizing, and the Ottoman Empire must follow suit. But just before the Sultan announces... (more)

The Sultan's Seal: A Novel

by Jenny B. White

"A wonderful read…. An historical novel of the highest quality."—Iain Pears Rich in sensuous detail, this first novel brilliantly captures the political and social upheavals of the waning Ottoman Empire. The naked body of a young Englishwoman washes up in Istanbul wearing a pendant inscribed with the seal of the deposed sultan. The death resembles the murder by strangulation of another English governess, a... (more)

The Balkans: A Short History (Modern Library Chronicles)

The Balkans: A Short History (Modern Library Chronicles)

by Mark Mazower

Throughout history, the Balkans have been a crossroads, a zone of endless military, cultural, and economic mixing and clashing between Europe and Asia, Christianity and Islam, Catholicism and Orthodoxy. In this highly acclaimed short history, Mark Mazower sheds light on what has been called the tinderbox of Europe, whose troubles have ignited wider wars for hundreds of years. Focusing on events from the emergence... (more)

Gallipoli: The Turkish Story

by Kevin Fewster, Vecihi Hurmuz Basarin, Hatice Hurmuz Basarin

Offering interviews with Turkish survivors of the Gallipoli campaign, insights from their descendants, and more than 50 photographs from the Turkish side of the trenches, this is the story of the infamous World War I battle from the Turkish perspective. This portrayal of the Battle of Canakkale, as the Turks call it, paints a richer portrait of the past and broadens the knowledge and understanding of this tragic... (more)

Halide's Gift: A Novel

by Frances Kazan

Set in magical, mystical Constantinople in the closing years of the nineteenth century, Halide's Gift is the story of a family with a secret, and a society in turbulent transition. At the heart of this beguiling novel are two sisters—one flamboyant and mischievous, the other shy and full of dreams—bound by an extraordinary friendship who will be torn apart by their love of radically different men. Selima Edib,... (more)

Turkish Letters

by Ogier Ghislain de Busbecq

The observations of a 16th-century Habsburg ambassador to Constantinople.

The Great War and the tragedy of Anatolia: Turks and Armenians in the maelstrom of major powers (Publications of Turkish Historical Society. Serial XVI)Salahi Ramadan Sonyel

The Great War and the tragedy of Anatolia: Turks and Armenians in the maelstrom of major powers (Publications of Turkish Historical Society. Serial XVI)

by Salahi Ramadan Sonyel

The Greek adventure: Lord Byron and other eccentrics in the War of IndependenceDavid J. Howarth

The Greek adventure: Lord Byron and other eccentrics in the War of Independence

by David Armine Howarth

Jem Sultan

by John Freely

A remarkable tale of empire and exile, restoring to vivid life one of the most extraordinary and colourful figures of medieval history. Jem Sultan, born in December 1459, was one of the wonders of his age. A Turkish prince held captive in Europe at a time when the Ottoman Empire was at its peak, he was renowned throughout the continent as a romantic, mysterious figure. Today he is almost forgotten in the West, but... (more)

A speech delivered by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, 1927Kemal Ataturk

A speech delivered by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, 1927

by Kemal Ataturk

Efendi: Beyaz Turklerin Buyuk SirriSoner Yalcin

Efendi: Beyaz Turklerin Buyuk Sirri

by Soner Yalcin

Field of Glory: Ancient and Medieval Wargaming Rules (Field Of GLory)

Field of Glory: Ancient and Medieval Wargaming Rules (Field Of GLory)

by Richard Bodley-Scott

Field of Glory is a new historical miniature tabletop wargaming rules system for anyone interested in recreating the battles of Rome, Greece or the Holy Land, among others. This series is intended to give both beginner and expert wargamers everything they need to play the battles of ancient and medieval eras on their tabletops. Tested and created by wargaming experts, this series includes a rulebook detailing the... (more)