{"product_id":"on-the-sultans-service-douglas-s-brookes-9780253045508","title":"On the Sultan's Service: Halid Ziya Usakligil's Memoir of the Ottoman Palace, 1909-1912","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"When at last we were approaching the Harem, the Sultan, surely quite alarmed, said to me in a low voice (was that so the eunuch walking in front of us wouldn't hear, or because in this lonely and dark passageway he was frightened of his own voice?), Ne olacak? 'What is to become of things?'\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTranslated into English for the first time, this memoir provides fascinating first-hand insight into the personalities, intrigues, and inner workings of the Ottoman palace in its final decades. Written by Halid Ziya Uşaklıgil, who was First Secretary to Sultan Mehmed V and would go on to be one of Turkey's most famous novelists, \u003ci\u003eOn the Sultan's Service\u003c\/i\u003e makes available to English readers the remarkable account of life and work in the Ottoman palace chancery--the public, \"business\" side of the palace--in its final incarnation. We learn of the court's new role under this second-to-last Sultan in post-Revolution Turkey. No longer exercising political power, the palace negotiated the minefields between political factions, sought ways to unite the empire in the face of sharpening nationalist aspirations, and faced with a kind of shocked despondency the opening salvos of the wars that were to overwhelm the country. Uşaklıgil includes interviews with the Imperial family and descriptions of royal nuptials, the palaces and its visitors, and the crises that shook the court. He delivers an insightful and moving portrait of Mehmed V, the elderly gentleman who reigned over the Ottoman Empire through both Balkan Wars and World War I.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Douglas S. Brookes\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0253045509\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780253045508\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Indiana University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/21\/2020\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 290\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.20lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.40h x 6.30w x 0.80d","brand":"Douglas S. Brookes","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48435346374911,"sku":"9780253045508","price":85.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_dabb2fac-7eba-4495-8c46-65dcb54740ed.jpg?v=1777149802","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/on-the-sultans-service-douglas-s-brookes-9780253045508","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}