Tormented by History: Nationalism in Greece and Turkey

Umut Ozkirimli and Spyros A. Sofos

April, 2008
Cloth, 320 pages,
ISBN: 978-0-231-70052-8
$45.00

"This is a most impressive text, drawing together, and in a very fluent and integrated way, the histories and debates on nationalism in Greece and Turkey. I have never seen a comparative study of this kind, let alone one that draws on material in both languages to great effect. It is also a remarkable example, too rare in this world, of collaboration by intellectuals from two rival states and also, given the sensibilities involved, a most courageous and valiant intervention." — Fred Halliday, London School of Economics, and author of The Middle East in International Relations: Power, Politics, and Ideology

"The historiography of modern Turkey and Greece is dominated by conflicting national perspectives in which uniqueness is stressed and where the other nation figures as the other. This remarkable collaboration transcends this perspective by bringing together expertise on nationalism in both countries as well as on theoretical debates about nationalism. It proceeds by means of careful comparison, taking various themes which are explored for each case and then compared and contrasted. This is both historically illuminating and a contribution to better understanding between Turkey and Greece." — John Breuilly, London School of Economics

Related Subjects

• European History

About the Author

Umut Özkirimli is associate professor of politics and the director of the Center for Turkish-Greek Studies at Istanbul Bilgi University. His previous publications include Theories of Nationalism: A Critical Introduction and Contemporary Debates on Nationalism: A Critical Engagement. Spyros A. Sofos is senior research fellow in European and international studies at the European Research Centre, Kingston University, London. He is the coauthor of Nation and Identity in Contemporary Europe and Islam in Europe: Public Spaces and Networks.

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