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I love a good history book that twists my mind around and helps me see the world from a different perspective. God's Shadow, which focuses on Sultan Selim and the worldwide importance of the Ottoman Empire before, during, and after his lifetime, definitely did that. This book is very much about the ways in which the Ottomans not only made their own history but shaped it for those around them, including (especially?) Europe. Mikhail recasts the journeys of Christopher Columbus and other New World explorers through the lens of Europe's obsession with an ideological battle between Christianity and Islam, and the results are enlightening. Everyone should know a lot of what is presented in this book and we don't.
That doesn't mean, however, that God's Shadow is perfect. It can seem to wander too far from the interesting, dramatic story of Selim's life, which I personally would like to know more about. So far, it makes Game of Thrones look like a children's bedtime story. Mikhail's commitment to a more sympathetic depiction of the Ottomans also leads him down some uncomfortable roads, and at various points he implies that compared to the system of slavery in Europe, Ottoman slavery "isn't that bad." That's a no-go for me!
While sometimes this book stumbles, I appreciate how much I learned from it, and I really enjoyed getting to know Selim.
I love a good history book that twists my mind around and helps me see the world from a different perspective. God's Shadow, which focuses on Sultan Selim and the worldwide importance of the Ottoman Empire before, during, and after his lifetime, definitely did that. This book is very much about the ways in which the Ottomans not only made their own history but shaped it for those around them, including (especially?) Europe. Mikhail recasts the journeys of Christopher Columbus and other New World explorers through the lens of Europe's obsession with an ideological battle between Christianity and Islam, and the results are enlightening. Everyone should know a lot of what is presented in this book and we don't.
That doesn't mean, however, that God's Shadow is perfect. It can seem to wander too far from the interesting, dramatic story of Selim's life, which I personally would like to know more about. So far, it makes Game of Thrones look like a children's bedtime story. Mikhail's commitment to a more sympathetic depiction of the Ottomans also leads him down some uncomfortable roads, and at various points he implies that compared to the system of slavery in Europe, Ottoman slavery "isn't that bad." That's a no-go for me!
While sometimes this book stumbles, I appreciate how much I learned from it, and I really enjoyed getting to know Selim.