TEHRAN-The Persian translation of the book “Turkey: A Short History” written by Norman Stone has been released in bookstores across Iran.

Marjan Rezaei has translated the book that has been published by Markaz Publications in 240 pages, Mehr reported.

First published in 2011, the book is a virtuoso performance by historian Norman Stone, who lived and worked in Turkey from 1997 until he passed away in 2019. It is a concise survey of Turkey’s relations with its immediate neighbors and the wider world from the 11th century to the present day. 

Stone deftly conducts the reader through this story, from the arrival of the Seljuks in Anatolia in the eleventh century to the modern republic applying for EU membership in the twenty-first. It is a historical account of epic proportions, featuring rapacious leaders such as Genghis Khan and Tamerlane through the glories of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent to Kemal Atatürk, the reforming genius and founder of modern Turkey. 

At its height, the Ottoman Empire was a superpower that brought Islam to the gates of Vienna. Stone examines the reasons for the empire’s long decline and shows how it gave birth to the modern Turkish Republic, where east and west, religion and secularism, tradition, and modernity still form vibrant elements of national identity. The author brilliantly draws out the larger themes of Turkey's history, resulting in a book that is a masterly exposition of the historian’s craft.

Norman Stone (1941-2019) was a British historian and author. At the time of his death, he was Professor of European history in the Department of International Relations at Bilkent University, Ankara, having formerly been a professor at the University of Oxford, a lecturer at the University of Cambridge, and an adviser to British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. He was a board member of the Center for Eurasian Studies.

SS/SAB