Support Us
Five Books
 
Search
MENUMENU
  • Nonfiction
        • Art
          • Architecture
          • Art History
          • Design & Illustration
          • Fashion & Style
          • Modern and Contemporary Art
          • Photography
        • Business Books
          • How to Invest
          • Leadership
          • Marketing
        • Economics
          • Behavioural Economics
          • Development Economics
          • Economic History
          • Finance
          • Financial Crisis
          • Globalization Books
          • World Economies
        • Environmental Books
          • Climate Change Books
          • Environmental Ethics
        • Food & Cooking
          • The Best Cookbooks
          • Food & History of Food
          • Wine & Drinks
        • Health & Lifestyle
          • Death & Dying
          • Education
          • Family & Relationships
          • Happiness
          • Sex & Sexuality
        • History Books
          • American History
          • Ancient History (up to 500)
          • Modern History (1800-1945)
          • History of Science
          • Historical Figures
          • Military History
        • Language
          • English Grammar & Usage
          • Books for Learning Languages
          • Linguistics
        • Law
        • Literary Nonfiction
          • Best Biographies
          • Essays
          • Memoir
          • Artists' Biographies
          • Travel
          • True Crime
        • Music & Drama
          • Classical Music & Opera
          • Film & Cinema
          • Music
          • Theatre
        • Nature
          • The Prehistoric World
          • The Earth
          • Plants, Trees & Flowers
        • Philosophy Books
          • Ancient Philosophy
          • Ethics & Moral Philosophy
          • Great Philosophers
          • Social & Political Philosophy
        • Politics & Society
          • War
          • Feminism
          • Foreign Policy & International Relations
          • Human Rights
          • Terrorism
        • Psychology
          • Mental Health
          • Neuroscience
          • Psychoanalysis
          • Psychology Research
          • Self Help
        • Religion
          • Best Atheist Books
          • Buddhism
          • Christian
          • Islamic
          • Jewish
          • Religious History Books
        • Science
          • Astronomy
          • Biology
          • Chemistry
          • Geoscience
          • Maths & Statistics
          • Popular Science
          • Physics Books
        • Sports, Games & Hobbies
          • Football (Soccer)
          • Gardening
          • Hobbies
          • Sport & Sporting Culture
        • Technology
          • Artificial Intelligence/AI Books
          • Computing
          • Digital Age
          • History of Technology
          • Internet
  • Fiction & Literature
        • Classic English Literature
        • American Literature
        • World Literature
        • Literary Criticism
        • Literary Figures
        • Classical Studies
        • Contemporary Fiction
          • NEW Fiction
        • Poetry
        • Memoir
        • Comics & Graphic Novels
        • Fairy Tales & Mythology
        • Historical Fiction
        • Horror
        • Humour
        • Crime Novels
        • Science Fiction
        • Short Stories
        • Romance
        • Thrillers (Books)
        • Mystery
        • Fantasy
  • World
        • Africa
          • Egypt
          • Ghana
          • Nigeria
          • Rwanda
          • South Africa
          • Zimbabwe
        • Americas
          • Latin America
            • Argentina
            • Brazil
            • Caribbean
            • Chile
            • Cuba
            • Mexico
          • United States
          • Canada
        • Arctic & Antarctica
        • Asia
          • Afghanistan
          • Bangladesh
          • Myanmar (Formerly Burma)
          • China
          • India
          • Japan
          • Kazakhstan
          • Korea
          • Pakistan
          • Sri Lanka
          • Singapore
          • Vietnam
        • Australia
        • Europe
          • Belgium
          • Britain
          • France
          • Germany
          • Greece
          • Ireland
          • Italy
          • Netherlands
          • Norway
          • Spain
          • Ukraine
        • Middle East
          • Iran
          • Iraq
          • Israel
          • Syria
          • Turkey
          • Yemen
        • Russia & FSU
          • Azerbaijan
          • Georgia
          • Russia
  • Kids
        • Kids Recommend Books for Kids
        • High School Teachers Recommendations
        • Novels & Novelists
        • Ages Baby-2
        • Ages 3-5
        • Ages 6-8
        • Ages 9-12
        • Books for Teens and Young Adults
        • Best Kids Books of 2022
        • Best Books for Teens of 2022
        • Best Audiobooks for Kids
        • Prizewinning Kids' Books
        • Popular Series Books for Kids
        • History
        • Economics
        • Environment
        • Family
        • Science
        • Mental Health
  • Best Books 2022
        • Audiobooks
        • Best Books for Teens of 2022
        • Best Kids' Books of 2022
        • Best Fiction of 2022
          • Historical Fiction
          • Romance
          • Science Fiction
          • Fantasy
          • Mystery
        • Best Nonfiction of 2022
          • History
          • Politics
          • Memoir
  • New Books
        • New Science Books
        • New Climate Books
        • New Psychology Books
        • New Philosophy Books
        • New Math Books
        • New Economics Books
        • New History Books
        • New Physics Books
        • New Memoirs
        • New Biography
        • New Fiction
        • New World Literature
        • New Historical Fiction
  • Audiobooks
    • Actors Read Great Books
    • Best Audiobooks for Kids
    • Books Narrated by Their Authors
    • Best Audiobook Thrillers
    • Best History Audiobooks
  • Book Awards
    • Nobel Literature Prize
    • Booker Prize
    • Baillie Gifford Prize
    • Royal Society (science)
    • Wolfson Prize (history)
    • Walter Scott Prize
    • Arthur C Clarke Prize
    • Pushkin House Prize
    • Audie Awards
  • Experts

World » Asia » Middle East » Turkey

Most Recommended Books

My Grandmother by Fethiye Cetin

“When it came out in 2004 this book really did cause a minor earthquake in Turkey, because it confronted Turks with the Armenians in their midst, both dead and alive. It’s an extraordinary story that broke the taboo in Turkey almost overnight, about the fact that so many people in Turkey had Armenian grandparents, or great-grandparents, who were the survivors as children of these horrific deportations in 1915, but who had been absorbed into Turkish society. Fethiye Cetin tells the story of how her grandmother – a very beloved figure – in her mid-sixties suddenly revealed in secret that she wasn’t the Turkish lady Seher, who her granddaughter believed her to be, but an Armenian called Heranus. Her parents were not her real parents but her adoptive parents, who’d picked her up from of deportation column in 1915 as the Armenians were being destroyed – and as most of her family were being destroyed. This was a secret that she had carried with her most of her life.”

Thomas de Waal, Foreign Correspondent

Read more

Browse book recommendations:

Middle East

  • Iran
  • Iraq
  • Israel
  • Lebanon
  • Palestine
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Syria
  • Turkey

Asia

  • Afghanistan
  • Azerbaijan
  • China
  • Georgia
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Japan
  • Kazakhstan
  • Middle East
  • Myanmar (Formerly Burma)
  • North Korea
  • Pakistan
  • Russia
  • Singapore
  • Sri Lanka
  • Taiwan
  • Vietnam

World

  • Africa
  • Americas
  • Arctic & Antarctica
  • Asia
  • Australia
  • Cities
  • Europe

Here you can find our best books on Turkey: the origins of the modern state, as well as books that explore its rich, varied and ancient culture.

Elif Shafak recommends books to understand Turkey’s social, cultural, and political complexity. In that interview, she discusses how the country has changed in recent decades and the relationship between modern Turkey and its Ottoman past. Elsewhere the late Professor Norman Stone, who taught at Bilkent University in Ankara, also discusses the country’s shifting relationship with its Ottoman past, and what the republic founded in 1923 sought to achieve and the merits of Turkey as a modern state in his discussion of Turkish history.

Hugh Pope, the former foreign correspondent and Turkey expert, discusses Turkish politics. He explains how the conflicts within modern Turkish politics are rooted in the way that Ataturk created the state in the before and after the Republic’s foundation. Finally, Thomas de Waal chooses his best books on the Armenian genocide, focusing on the human dimension rather than the politics of that tragedy.

For the best book on Turkish cuisine, turn to Nevin Halici's Turkish Cookbook.

    The best books on Turkey, recommended by Elif Shafak

  • Read
    The best books on Turkey - Fragments of Culture by Deniz Kandiyoti & Ayse Saktanber

    1

    Fragments of Culture
    by Deniz Kandiyoti & Ayse Saktanber

  • Read
    The best books on Turkey - Rethinking Modernity and National Identity in Turkey by Sibel Bozdogan & Resat Kasaba

    2

    Rethinking Modernity and National Identity in Turkey
    by Sibel Bozdogan & Resat Kasaba

  • Read
    The best books on Turkey - Colonial Fantasies by Meyda Yegenoglu

    3

    Colonial Fantasies
    by Meyda Yegenoglu

  • Read
    The best books on Turkey - Istanbul by John Freely

    4

    Istanbul
    by John Freely

  • Read
    The best books on Turkey - Tales from the Expat Harem by Anastasia Ashman & Jennifer Gokmen

    5

    Tales from the Expat Harem
    by Anastasia Ashman & Jennifer Gokmen

  • The best books on Turkey - Fragments of Culture by Deniz Kandiyoti & Ayse Saktanber
  • The best books on Turkey - Rethinking Modernity and National Identity in Turkey by Sibel Bozdogan & Resat Kasaba
  • The best books on Turkey - Colonial Fantasies by Meyda Yegenoglu
  • The best books on Turkey - Istanbul by John Freely
  • The best books on Turkey - Tales from the Expat Harem by Anastasia Ashman & Jennifer Gokmen

The best books on Turkey, recommended by Elif Shafak

Turkey’s most read author, Elif Shafak, describes Istanbul as ‘a she-city with a female personality’. She chooses five books on Turkey, including a biography of the she-city in all its vibrant energy and intensity.

The best books on Turkey, recommended by Elif Shafak

    Memoirs of the Armenian Genocide, recommended by Thomas de Waal

  • Read
    Memoirs of the Armenian Genocide - My Grandmother by Fethiye Cetin

    1

    My Grandmother
    by Fethiye Cetin

  • Read
    Memoirs of the Armenian Genocide - Four Years in the Mountains of Kurdistan by Aram Haigaz

    2

    Four Years in the Mountains of Kurdistan
    by Aram Haigaz

  • Read
    Memoirs of the Armenian Genocide - Burning Orchards by Gurgen Mahari

    3

    Burning Orchards
    by Gurgen Mahari

  • Read
    Memoirs of the Armenian Genocide - Song of America by George M. Mardikian

    4

    Song of America
    by George M. Mardikian

  • Read
    Memoirs of the Armenian Genocide - I Ask You, Ladies and Gentlemen by Leon Surmelian

    5

    I Ask You, Ladies and Gentlemen
    by Leon Surmelian

  • Memoirs of the Armenian Genocide - My Grandmother by Fethiye Cetin
  • Memoirs of the Armenian Genocide - Four Years in the Mountains of Kurdistan by Aram Haigaz
  • Memoirs of the Armenian Genocide - Burning Orchards by Gurgen Mahari
  • Memoirs of the Armenian Genocide - Song of America by George M. Mardikian
  • Memoirs of the Armenian Genocide - I Ask You, Ladies and Gentlemen by Leon Surmelian

Memoirs of the Armenian Genocide, recommended by Thomas de Waal

More than 100 years after the Armenian genocide, author Tom de Waal chooses books that sidestep the politics and bring us back to the human story. He picks the best memoirs of the Armenian genocide.

Memoirs of the Armenian Genocide, recommended by Thomas de Waal

    The best books on Turkish History, recommended by Norman Stone

  • Read
    The best books on Turkish History - Levant by Philip Mansel

    1

    Levant
    by Philip Mansel

  • Read
    The best books on Turkish History - The Bellini Card by Jason Goodwin

    2

    The Bellini Card
    by Jason Goodwin

  • Read
    The best books on Turkish History - Turkey: A Short History by Norman Stone

    3

    Turkey: A Short History
    by Norman Stone

  • Read
    The best books on Turkish History - Ionian Vision by Michael Llewellyn Smith

    4

    Ionian Vision
    by Michael Llewellyn Smith

  • Read
    The best books on Turkish History - Portrait of a Turkish Family by Irfan Orga

    5

    Portrait of a Turkish Family
    by Irfan Orga

  • The best books on Turkish History - Levant by Philip Mansel
  • The best books on Turkish History - The Bellini Card by Jason Goodwin
  • The best books on Turkish History - Turkey: A Short History by Norman Stone
  • The best books on Turkish History - Ionian Vision by Michael Llewellyn Smith
  • The best books on Turkish History - Portrait of a Turkish Family by Irfan Orga

The best books on Turkish History, recommended by Norman Stone

Turkey is rediscovering its Ottoman past, says the British professor living in Ankara. He picks five books for compelling insights into Turkish history.

The best books on Turkish History, recommended by Norman Stone

    The best books on Turkish Politics, recommended by Hugh Pope

  • Read
    The best books on Turkish Politics - Atatürk by Andrew Mango

    1

    Atatürk
    by Andrew Mango

  • Read
    The best books on Turkish Politics - My Grandmother by Fethiye Cetin

    2

    My Grandmother
    by Fethiye Cetin

  • Read
    The best books on Turkish Politics - Autobiographies of Orhan Pamuk by Michael McGaha

    3

    Autobiographies of Orhan Pamuk
    by Michael McGaha

  • Read
    The best books on Turkish Politics - The Turks by David Hotham

    4

    The Turks
    by David Hotham

  • Read
    The best books on Turkish Politics - Constantinople by Edmondo de Amicis, translated by Maria Hornor Lansdale

    5

    Constantinople
    by Edmondo de Amicis, translated by Maria Hornor Lansdale

  • The best books on Turkish Politics - Atatürk by Andrew Mango
  • The best books on Turkish Politics - My Grandmother by Fethiye Cetin
  • The best books on Turkish Politics - Autobiographies of Orhan Pamuk by Michael McGaha
  • The best books on Turkish Politics - The Turks by David Hotham
  • The best books on Turkish Politics - Constantinople by Edmondo de Amicis, translated by Maria Hornor Lansdale

The best books on Turkish Politics, recommended by Hugh Pope

The Istanbul-based author and former foreign correspondent discusses the legacy of Atatürk, the country’s convergence with Europe and why no book has yet been written on Erdogan and the AKP. He picks the best books to help understand Turkish politics.

The best books on Turkish Politics, recommended by Hugh Pope

About

We ask experts to recommend the five best books in their subject and explain their selection in an interview.

This site has an archive of more than one thousand seven hundred interviews, or eight thousand book recommendations. We publish at least two new interviews per week.

Five Books participates in the Amazon Associate program and earns money from qualifying purchases.

Newsletter Contact us Privacy Policy Terms of Service Mastodon Social

© Five Books 2023

Get our newsletter