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Stamboul Sketches: Encounters in Old Istanbul by John Freely

readingcities's review

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4.0

Yes, of course it's cliched and orientalist, but...it's John Freely writing in the 1960s, what do you expect? In places I was a little bored with the extended excerpts from Evliya Çelebi's Seyahatname, but as the collection progressed it became less bothersome. Certainly there are "problematic" aspects when read from a contemporary perspective, but taken as a primary source, a historical sketch of a long-gone version of the city, it has value and charm.