Books by Mary Montagu
“These private letters of the wife of the British Ambassador to Constantinople (1716-1718), written to her friends in England, are the best insight into the 18th century Ottoman Empire written in English. Lady Mary Montegu learned Turkish, infiltrated the Sultan’s harem to learn about political machinations and discovered the practice of vaccination from Ottoman doctors among her many adventures. Her descriptions of the sweaty hamams, high fashion and religious customs of18th century Constantinople are also unexpectedly funny – I laughed a lot at this maverick lady adventurer.” Read more...
Interviews where books by Mary Montagu were recommended
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1
Birds Without Wings
by Louis de Bernières -
2
Salonica, City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims and Jews, 1430-1950
by Mark Mazower -
3
The Complete Letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
by Mary Montagu & Robert Halsband (editor) -
4
Twice a Stranger: The Mass Expulsions That Forged Modern Greece and Turkey
by Bruce Clark -
5
The Bridge on the Drina
by Ivo Andrić
Books on the Ottoman Empire, recommended by Alev Scott
Books on the Ottoman Empire, recommended by Alev Scott
The Ottoman Empire rose to prominence towards the end of the medieval period, stunning the world with its rapid expansion and causing the collapse of the Byzantine Empire with its conquest of Constantinople in 1453. It would carry on being a major player in the world until the end of World War I. Here journalist Alev Scott, author of the very wistful travelogue, Ottoman Odyssey, recommends books that help bring alive an empire that was multicultural and multireligious, and whose legacy can still be felt around the Balkans, the Middle East and parts of Africa.
