Biography of Ataturk?

May 16, 2007 8:09 AM

Can anyone recommend a good book about Atatürk?

As in Mustafa Kemal Atatürk? I'm looking for a good biography. There are a number of them out there and I'm not sure which one is authoritative, generally considered the best, which is the most readable, etc. I'm also open to any good histories of Turkey focusing on Atatürk's reign and legacy.

posted by kosem to education (4 comments total)

i haven't read it, but this one gets prime shelf space at the independent bookstore i work at.
posted by soma lkzx at 10:17 AM on May 16, 2007

Library thing tags Turkey
Includes Andrew Mango's biography linked above by soma lkzx
posted by adamvasco at 10:54 AM on May 16, 2007

I took a Middle East history class that required this book, so I imagine it's one of the better ones out there. It's quite readable, although it spends a lot of time on his military career, and I didn't get a chance to read much of the later (and probably more interesting parts) about when he actually was in power. I don't know how easy this book is to get a hold of though, as it seems to be out of print (my version was a photocopy).
posted by gueneverey at 12:47 PM on May 16, 2007

This Wikipedia article discusses both biographies:

The high point of Mango's career as an author, however, came after he retired from the BBC in 1986 when he was commissioned by the British publishers, John Murray, to write a new biography of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. The aim was to replace the earlier biography written by Lord Kinross who, though enthusiastic about Atatürk, had not actually been able to read Turkish sources himself.

Mango spent five years on the biography, using Turkish printed sources though not archival material. This is a controversial work that has received enthusiastic reviews from Atatürk sympathizers whereas it has had a much cooler reception from those favoring a more critical approach.

Unfortunately, those seem to be the only ones available; I say "unfortunately" because I personally dislike books that are overtly sympathetic to quasi-dictatorial rulers. I highly recommend you supplement whichever bio you choose with Turkey: A Modern History by Erik Jan Zürcher, a well-written and compact book that starts with the late Ottoman Empire and continues to the present (well, in my edition to the 1990s). Here's his summing up of Atatürk:

Under the influence of the official historiography of the Turkish Republic (and ultimately of Atatürk himself in his great speech), historians have depicted the emergence of modern Turkey as the single-handed achievement of one man. The reader will have noticed that in this book an attempt has been made to paint a different picture. Nevertheless, it remains true that it is doubtful whether Turkey would have survived as an independent state without his unique combination of tactical mastery, ruthlessness, realism and sense of purpose. Up to 1919 he had been a member of the military inner circle of the CUP with a reputation as both a brilliant staff officer and commander and a quarrelsome and overambitious personality. His rule after 1925 may be regarded both as a daring attempt at achieving a modernization leap for Turkish society and as a regressive phase in the development of mature and democratic political institutions in Turkey, but there can be hardly any doubt that he was absolutely the right man on the right spot during the greatest crisis in the history of his country and that he contributed more than anyone else to its survival.

posted by languagehat at 5:24 PM on May 16, 2007