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I wrote Turkey:
Bright Sun, Strong Tea to
be both an informative introduction
to travel in Turkey, and a humorous,
entertaining read good for airplane
time or
a few pages before bed. Here
are excerpts. Here
are reviews.
Click
here for ordering information.
To buy it in Turkey, see my list of Istanbul
bookshops. Homer
Kitabevi near Galatasaray
Square is sure to have it, as they
are the Turkish publisher of
the book.
Some of the books about
Turkey mentioned
below are available in public libraries,
most can be bought online or in bookshops. These
Istanbul bookshops have
many of them—and many others
as well.
An excellent source of English-language
books about Turkey is Çitlembik
Publishers. In the USA,
their books are sold by Nettleberry.
Travel
Guidebooks
The best companions while you're on the road
in Istanbul and Turkey. More...
Turkish
History Books
What you get out of a trip
depends on how well you prepare. Here
are the background books, from simple
to scholarly, including two wonderful
books by Hugh
Pope that read like novels. More...
Modern
Turkey
Here are the best books on the rise and progress
of the Turkish
Republic in the 20th century, and its prospects
for the 21st. More...
Archeology
Read Michael Balter's exciting book on the swashbuckling
archeologist James Mellaart and
the discovery of the amazing Neolithic settlement
at Çatalhöyük. More...
Art Books
Turkey is filled with art, both the non-representational
art of the Islamic Ottoman
Empire,
and the fully representational, modern
art of the Turkish
Republic—and more
art is being made all the time. More...
Adventure
My old friend Dux Schneider bought
a donkey and trekked through the
Bolkar Mountains of Turkey's Mediterranean
coast, getting to know the secretive Tahtacilar ("Woodcutter")
people along the way. Then there's
Ms Maliha Masood, searching for her
Islamic roots but being taken for
a spy.... More...
Architecture
Turkey is virtually an architectural
museum, with works from 5000 years
ago to the present day: Hittite,
Hellenic,
Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman,
modern.
More...
Biography
Popular history: reading about people is among the
best ways to learn about a country and its culture.
Biographies of Kemal
Atatürk and Turkish families
living in both Ottoman and republican times,
including M A Whitten's delightful An
Island in Istanbul. More...
Culture
Here's a compendium of the best writing
about Turkey, the Turks and Turkish
culture in the last century. More...
Turkish
Cuisine
Turkish cuisine is the 'sleeper,'
the grand surprise for every visitor
to Turkey. 'I never expected the food
to be so good!' is the common refrain
among returning visitors. It's even
better if you know something about
it before you go. More...
Fiction/Novels
From Agatha Christie to Orhan
Pamuk, Turkey's romance and
exoticism has fascinated novelists. More...
The online bookshop called Nettleberry is a good source for books in English
about Turkey, and English-language
books published in Turkey. More...
If you're in Istanbul, you can find
good English-language books about Turkey
at these
bookshops.
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