Under the Shadow
Rage and Revolution in Modern Turkey
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- $21.99
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- $21.99
Publisher Description
Turkey stands at the crossroads of the Middle East--caught between the West and ISIS, Syria and Russia, and governed by an increasingly forceful leader. Acclaimed writer Kaya Genc has been covering his country for the past decade. In Under the Shadow he meets activists from both sides of Turkey's political divide: Gezi park protestors who fought tear gas and batons to transform their country's future, and supporters of Erdogan's conservative vision who are no less passionate in their activism. He talks to artists and authors to ask whether the New Turkey is a good place to for them to live and work. He interviews censored journalists and conservative writers both angered by what has been going on in their country.He meets Turkey's Wall Street types who take to the streets despite the enormity of what they can lose as well as the young Islamic entrepreneurs who drive Turkey's economy.While talking to Turkey's angry young people Genc weaves in historical stories, visions and mythologies, showing how Turkey's progressives and conservatives take their ideological roots from two political movements born in the Ottoman Empire: the Young Turks and the Young Ottomans, two groups of intellectuals who were united in their determination to make their country more democratic.
He shows a divided society coming to terms with the 21st Century, and in doing so, gets to the heart of the compelling conflicts between history and modernity in the Middle East.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Turkish journalist Genc profiles young Turkish activists organizing on his country's frontlines in this fascinating and informative compilation that represents both investigative and literary journalism at their finest. He profiles people from different socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds and with contrasting and often clashing ideologies, demonstrating the diversity and passionate drive of Turkey's politicized youth. Each profile provides an intimate lens into youth culture and the dynamic political landscape of modern Turkey, with the Gezi protests of 2013 as the common ground for each disparate party demanding political change. Some of Genc's subjects include an environmentalist, a Jewish art historian, a filmmaker, a poet, journalists, and a conservative business executive. The stories of these different activists, their family histories, and their politicization are nuanced. Genc explores modern Turkey's past and present, from the military dictatorship of the 1980s to the rise of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's conservative and capitalist Turkey. He captures the distinct yet tenuous identity of a nation led by a repressive government and caught between Europe and the Middle East. Genc who includes a foreword addressing the failed 2016 coup has found a brilliant form to tell the story of a nation in turmoil, with the voices of young dissidents leading the narrative. This review has been corrected to fix a mistake in the price.
