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David S. Tonge • The Enduring Hold of Islam in Turkey • The Revival of the Religious Orders and Rise of Erdoğan.
[C Hurst & Company Publishers Limited / ISBN-13:9781911723837].
A new history of modern Turkey, focussing on its fifty-year retreat from Kemalist secularism. This is the first account in English of how Islamic religious orders dating back to Ottoman times have risen to dominate and define the future of Turkey, Europe’s awkward neighbour and the major power in the Eastern Mediterranean.
‘Few outsiders are as qualified as Tonge to have written a contemporary history of Islam in Turkey. His book provides extraordinary insight into the religious underpinnings of Turkish society and politics. In the oft-bewildering era of Erdoğan, this puts a lot of things in their place. This is bound to be a precious resource for scholars of Islam, and of Turkey, for years to come.’ — Jon Lee Anderson, The New Yorker.
‘Mabrouk (congratulations) to the author!’ — David Gardner, former Foreign International Affairs Editor, Financial Times.
Tonge’s history offers a salutary alternative to the wishful narrative developed by Western chancelleries during the Cold War, one which viewed Turkey as a westernising democracy. The revival of both Turkish nationalism and Islam helped President Erdoğan’s rise to power, and will shape the regime that succeeds him—illuminating and understanding Turkey’s realities of faith and religious politics has never been more important.
19.09.2024 (just after tea) • Waterstones • Trafalgar Square • London • Garry Rigby © 2024.
David Tonge has lived half of his life in Turkey. A scholar of Magdalene College, University of Cambridge, he reported from Ankara and Athens for the BBC, Guardian and Observer, then from London as the Financial Times’ diplomatic correspondent. Tonge’s The Kremlin’s Confidant (← available there); David S. Tonge grows citrus and olives in Turkey.
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David S. Tonge
The Enduring Hold of Islam in Turkey • The Revival of the Religious Orders and Rise of Erdoğan. Waterstones • Trafalgar Square • London • 2024.
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Book launch photographs →
DAVID S. TONGE (short bio) →
