Book Review Sample on Ottoman and Post-Ottoman Lands

Introduction

The Ottoman empire is one of the dynasties considered the most powerful in history. The Islamic superpowers primarily ran the Ottoman Empire. The empire ruled over large areas that covered the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and parts of North Africa. History books have claimed that the Ottoman Empire ruled for more than 600 years. Apart from the total duration that the empire ruled, history books have analyzed different elements of the pre- and post-Ottoman period; below is a book review of one of the historical books that explore aspects of faith, the state, and the nation that were primarily influenced by the post-Ottoman dynasty.

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Ottoman History

Frederick. F. Anscombe's book titled: "State, Faith, and Nation in Ottoman and Post Ottoman Lands" is one of the unique works of the Ottoman history books. The book is focused on analyzing the long-term trends of the Ottoman and the post-Ottoman period. The text, although historical, does not focus on the occurrences during the Ottoman period. The text is focused on coming up with trends and eventualities of faith, state, and nation that happened, which were influenced by the Ottoman events. The book designs exciting conclusions, especially when it emphasizes that classical Ottoman rule was mostly dependent on the crisis. Post Ottoman states and nations were formed as ways of trying to solve the existing crisis. According to the text, the independent successor states that took over the empire translated the leadership and religious turmoil during the Ottoman period.

The book is structured in a way that it begins by acknowledging the government formation of the Ottoman empire. In the introduction, the Ottomans believe the classical form of governance makes the Ottoman empire survive under crisis. The initial part of the book only focuses on exposing the crisis. The middle section then introduces an analysis of how religious, legal, and political practice formed the post duration basis, which introduced ways of solving the crisis. The Ottoman empire's destruction account shows how the crisis was solved by the then established legal and religious groups. The final part of the book analyzes how the Ottoman rule's independent states were influenced by some of the Ottoman empire's crises. Some of the states mentioned in the texts include Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, and the Arab states. The thesis promoted by this text is that it generally questions the myth of Ottoman weakness, which has always been a topic for history books over the years. In his deconstructions, he views several flaws in the Ottoman state that inform his decision to consider the empire as one that survived through the crisis. Through its thesis, the text provides a weak nature of the successor state as sufficient proof of the Ottoman empire's crisis.

Transition Analysis

The text has mainly been borrowed from previous historical texts on the Ottoman empire. Most of the book's sources are primarily those written during the transition analysis between 1768 to 1839. As many sources focused on proving how the transition was convincing and successful, the book above analyzed just how the change was made difficult because of the empire's crisis. In terms of argument and style, the author has used persuasive arguments with facts acquired from different sources. The author's style of analyzing legal, religious, state, and national distinctively makes his analysis more in-depth than the rest of the historical books that touch on the Ottoman empire topic.

Both the argument and the style used by the author of the texts are essential in communicating the message intended. The argument uniquely creates an implication of too much uniformity among the audience, which leads to the book being intellectually coherent. The state's analysis as a separate concept from Islam's religion makes it possible to realize the crisis as aspects not embedded within religion. The continuation of informal practices of governance that create the Ottoman empire's crisis has been analyzed as entities independent of Islam's failures as a religion (Anscombe, 2014).

This text is similar to other historical texts on the same topic. Like other history books, the sources applied are from 1708 to after the mid 18s. However, the text posts a lot of differences with other Ottoman historical books. First, the book can separate Islam's failure as a religion and the crisis of governance that existed due to the Ottoman empire's shortcomings. Other historical texts have always associated the leadership style of the Ottoman empire to Islamic religious doctrines. However, the text introduces the eclectic perspective of leadership. The author is focused on letting his audience learn that religion is not everything. Some areas of life, especially informal practices of governance, are eclectic than they are religious. In most religions, including Islam, everyday practices of governance and leadership condemn poor leadership styles murred with dictatorship.

Historical Education

This text by Anscombe has a lot of useful contributions to historical education. The author re-asserts the role of principles in both governance and religion. Modernists' analysis of crises can interpret the toxic interaction of religion, traditionalism, and westernization. The text's ideas provide suggestive comparisons on the type of leadership styles that have been used as the influence of the current government in the globe. There is a probability that imperial regimes existed due to a symbiosis relationship shared with the church. The post- Ottoman state's inability to operate displayed through weak economic performances, lack of success, and citizens' disloyalty are proof that the article is logical in analyzing the Ottoman empire was all about the crisis the success of an empire.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Anscombe titled, "State, Faith, and Nation in Ottoman and Post Ottoman Lands" is one of its kind structured and styled to argue a perspective that is not common among historical books that analyze the Ottoman empire. The text is structured to help prove the underlying analogy that the Ottoman Empire due to crisis. These crises cannot only be interpreted in an Islamic religious perspective alone.

Reference

Anscombe, F. F. (2014). State, faith, and nation in Ottoman and Post-Ottoman lands. Cambridge University Press: https://books.google.co.ke/books.