Ataturk: The Rebirth of a Nation by Patrick Kinross (1964).
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, considered “Father of the Turks,” rose to power as a devoted and determined military officer. Raised as a plebian by a widowed mother, it was when Kemal was stationed in Sofia (Bulgaria) that he was first exposed to Western civilization. Heavy on battle and war tactics, the text documents Kemal’s rise in the ranks of the military through WWI, where he fought bravely – the only Turkish officer who went undefeated -- and strategized accurately. Seizing upon a nationalist spirit that swept Turkey after WWI, Kemal proved himself as a politician and statesman in the Anatolia heartland by insisting upon the rights of his nation according to the will of its people so that Turkey became the “first Oriental country to make a stand against Western Imperialism.” Within five years of rising to power, Kemal abolishes both the sultanate and caliphate to establish the New Turkish Republic as a secular state where the Islamic relics – the face veil and fez -- are outlawed and women are emancipated. A British journalist and intelligence officer, Kinross tackles this big, dense biography with a very high regard for his subject (8/10).
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