Sorrowful Shores: Violence, Ethnicity, and the End of the Ottoman Empire 1912-1923

The Turkish Republic was formed out of immense bloodshed and carnage. During the decade leading up to the end of the Ottoman Empire and the ascendancy of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, virtually every town and village throughout Anatolia was wracked by intercommunal violence. Sorrowful Shores presents a unique, on-the-ground history of these bloody years of social and political transformation. Challenging the determinism associated with nationalist interpretations of Turkish history between 1912 and 1923, Ryan Gingeras delves deeper into this period of transition between empire and nation-state. Looking closely at a corner of territory immediately south of the old Ottoman capital of Istanbul, he traces the evolution of various communities of native Christians and immigrant Muslims against the backdrop of the Balkan Wars, the First World War, the Armenian Genocide, the Turkish War of Independence, and the Greek occupation of the region. Drawing on new sources from the Ottoman archives, Gingeras demonstrates how violence was organised at the local level. Arguing against the prevailing view of the conflict as a war between monolithic ethnic groups driven by fanaticism and ancient hatreds, he reveals instead the culpability of several competing states in fanning successive waves of bloodshed.

Review: A powerful study...Sorrowful Shores stands out as a truly detached account of the "Turkish War of Independence"-one that will be impossible for scholars of any political persuasion to ignore. * Holocaust and Genocide Studies *
[A] riveting new study. * The New Republic *
A most welcome addition to the analysis of a much understudied period of contemporary Turkish history...meticulous...a must-read for all those interested in the workings of nations and nationalism in general, and scholars focusing on the Turkish nation-building process in particular. * Fatma Muge Gocek, Nationalities Papers *
A very interesting book...a valuable, well-researched, provocative work that will be interesting to specialist and student alike. * Evdoxios Doxiadis, Journal of Modern Greek Studies *
Extremely important for making sense out of the transition from Ottoman Empire to Turksih Republic * Remarks by the President of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies for the British-Kuwait Friendship Society Book Prize 2009 *