This skillfully written text presents the full sweep of Ottoman history from its beginnings on the Byzantine frontier in about 1300, through its development as an empire, to its late eighteenth-century confrontation with a rapidly modernizing Europe. Itzkowitz delineates the fundamental institutions of the Ottoman state, the major divisions within the society, and the basic ideas on government and social structure. Throughout, Itzkowitz emphasizes the Ottomans' own conception of their historical experience, and in so doing penetrates the surface view provided by the insights of Western observers of the Ottoman world to the core of Ottoman existence.

Ottoman Empire and Islamic Tradition (Phoenix Book)

History

Itzkowitz, Norman

Middle East

University of Chicago Press

The Immortal Ataturk: A Psychobiography

A searching look at modern Turkey.

Volkan, Vamik

Univ of Chicago Pr

Richard Nixon

Despite an abundance of literature on Richard Nixon, the man behind the most spectacular crash-and-burn career of modern political history has remained an enigma. What lay behind his obsessive hunger for power and control, his paranoid attacks against enemies real and perceived, his refusal to accept defeat? Why did a man who had achieved so much feel so unfulfilled even at the height of his power? And what drove the president responsible for such triumphs as the opening of relations with China to the depths of the most devastating political scandal in American history? Richard Nixon: A Psychobiography is the first thoroughgoing psychological portrait of the 37th president, drawing upon telling interviews with Nixon intimates, published and archived materials, while employing a rigorous psychoanalytic methodology. Tracing the development of Nixon's complex psyche, the authors provide new insight not only into his unconscious motivations but also into the way they influenced his political actions, whether shrewd or disastrous. The authors explore Nixon's difficult upbringing―his mean-spirited, abusive father and often-absent mother; episodic physical trauma and mental deprivation; the tragic deaths of his two brothers; his rejection by the first woman he hoped to marry; and the long pursuit of his eventual wife, Pat. Nixon emerges as a narcissistic man with an extraordinary sense of purpose, yet one who suffered from inner conflicts and self-destructive tendencies. His desire to heal difficult political conflicts and his need to punish himself continually were attempts to reconcile the crippling contradiction between a grandiose self image and an impoverished private sense of worth. Projecting his own devalued self image onto others, attempting to control and destroy them, Nixon surrendered to the excessive suspiciousness that would eventually lead to his downfall. Here are the three faces of Nixon's complex psyche―the grandiose persona, which manifested itself in bold policy moves like "The New Federalism" and the China initiative; the peacemaker, whose desire to heal internal conflicts can be seen in the policies of détente and the "Southern" desegregation strategy; and the paranoid degraded self, which struck out against those who had humiliated him and was responsible for the bombing of Cambodia and the Watergate break-in. This probing analysis makes intelligible the moments in Nixon's presidency that have provoked much speculation but few answers, from his attempt to talk to Vietnam war protesters during a pre-dawn visit to the Lincoln Memorial to his keeping of the White House tapes. A more nuanced, more humanized Nixon emerges in a book that also provides compelling evidence that the politics of a nation is subject to the unconscious needs, fears, and fantasies of its leaders.

Biographies & Memoirs

Dod, Andrew

Historical

Columbia University Press

Volkan, Vamık D.

Dod, Andrew W.

Volkan, Vamk D.

This skillfully written text presents the full sweep of Ottoman history from its beginnings on the Byzantine frontier in about 1300, through its development as an empire, to its late eighteenth-century confrontation with a rapidly modernizing Europe. Itzkowitz delineates the fundamental institutions of the Ottoman state, the major divisions within the society, and the basic ideas on government and social structure. Throughout, Itzkowitz emphasizes the Ottomans' own conception of their historical experience, and in so doing penetrates the surface view provided by the insights of Western observers of the Ottoman world to the core of Ottoman existence.

Ottoman Empire and Islamic tradition (Studies in world civilization)

Knopf: distributed by Random House

Traces the life of the a poor peasant who became one of the most powerful men in Russia by claiming to have mystical powers.

Grigory Rasputin: Holy Man or Mad Monk? (Wicked History)

Children's Books

Goldberg, Enid A.

Literature & Fiction

Franklin Watts

Traces the life and accomplishments of the Mongol conqueror who established the largest empire in history.

Genghis Khan: 13th Century Mongolian Tyrant (Wicked History)

Asia

Tomas De Torquemada: Architect of Torture During the Spanish Inquisition (Wicked History)

Traces the life of the Dominican friar who led the Spanish Inquisition.

Tomas de Torquemada: Architect of Torture During the Spanish Inquisition (Wicked History)

Biographies

Reexamines the life of Vlad "the Impaler" Dracula, the fifteenth-century Romanian prince who served as a model for Bram Stoker's infamous vampire, in terms of the violent times in which he lived.

Vlad the Impaler: The Real Count Dracula (Wicked History)

Explore the life and accomplishments of the Mongol conqueror who established the largest empire in history. The wicked ways of some of the most ruthless rulers to walk the earth are revealed in these thrilling biographies (A Wicked History) about men and women so monstrous, they make Frankenstein look like a sweetheart.

Genghis Khan (A Wicked History)

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Itzkowitz, Norman. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Itzkowitz, Norman

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Itzkowitz, Norman. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Ottoman Empire and Islamic Tradition (Phoenix Book)

The Immortal Ataturk: A Psychobiography

Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon

Ottoman Empire and Islamic tradition (Studies in world civilization)

Grigory Rasputin: Holy Man or Mad Monk? (Wicked History)

Genghis Khan: 13th Century Mongolian Tyrant (Wicked History)

Tomas de Torquemada: Architect of Torture During the Spanish Inquisition (Wicked History)

Vlad the Impaler: The Real Count Dracula (Wicked History)

Genghis Khan (A Wicked History)