'Most intriguing . . . Fortna offers readers fascinating insights into Ottoman covert operations as well as the life of an Ottoman POW... This well-written biography shows an Ottoman operating on the fringe and the leadership's frequent reliance on such individuals.' 'Benjamin Fortna's new biography [of Esref Kuscubasi] is the most detailed and reliable account in either English or Turkish. ... Read more... [A] work of first-rate scholarship on a fascinating, tempestuous life.'
Hurriyet Daily News
'A highly original and important study. Fortna has found a treasure trove of original documents and handwritten memoirs of one of the leading militants of the Young Turk era. He has been able to combine this archive with important primary sources from the Ottoman and Turkish military archives as well as from the National Archives in the UK. The result is a unique insider's view of the traumatic and violent final decade of the Ottoman Empire.'
Erik-Jan Zurcher, Professor of Turkish Studies, University of Leiden
'Ben Fortna provides us with an honest history, of Esref's personal trajectory as much as his entanglements with the many world-historical events of his day. In doing so he helps pave the way toward a more nuanced understanding of the woefully understudied transition from the Ottoman Empire to the modern state of Turkey.'
Christine Philliou, Associate Professor of History, University of California, Berkeley, and author of Biography of an Empire: Governing Ottomans in an Age of Revolution
'Benjamin Fortna balances deftly the grand sweep of imperial collapse with the immediacy of biography. He explores the motivations and methods of Esref, a hard man of the Young Turk era and notorious activist in the sensational events of the 1908-23 period, offering a rare alternative to the normal clash-of-nations depiction of the era. The result is a remarkably absorbing, insightful book.'
Frederick Anscombe, Head of the Department of History, Birkbeck, University of London; author of State, Faith and Nation in Ottoman and Post-Ottoman Lands
'Benjamin Fortna's book is a major contribution to the history of the under-researched Special Organization (Teskilat-i Mahsusa). A biography of a leading CUP self-sacrificing volunteer, Esref Kuscubasi, who occupied significant positions in the organization, The Circassian not only reproduces extremely important and hitherto unused documents and private papers but also draws a much larger picture of Ottoman intelligence and undercover operations during the final years of the empire.'
M. Sukru Hanioglu, Garrett Professor in Foreign Affairs, Princeton University
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