One neighborhood in Istanbul: a window on a city, country, region, and world in a state of upheaval.
Karagumruk, an Istanbul neighborhood once dominated by Ottoman-era homes, is now known for its cheap apartment blocks and petty thieves-and a massive influx of Syrian refugees. It's here that Suzy Hansen went looking for the truth behind the headlines of the Turkish president Erdo¿an's authoritarian turn, a catastrophic regional war, and an accelerating geopolitical crisis. She discovered the neighborhood's secrets and got to know its people: Ismail, the longtime muhtar, or neighborhood councilman; Huseyin, a loyalist for Erdo¿an's Islamic nationalist AK party; and Ebru, a real estate agent and mother with ambitions to unseat Ismail.
From Life Itself is the absorbing account of one neighborhood in Istanbul that has seen profound change. But in a remarkable turn, Hansen connects the events unfolding in Karagumruk to the forces roiling Turkey, the Middle East, and the world. She asks: Was Turkey a harbinger of what we'd soon see in other countries, the resurgence of authoritarianism? Or do the lives of this neighborhood, and the transformations of Erdo¿an's Turkey, reveal a more complex story?
The author of the acclaimed Pulitzer Prize finalist Notes on a Foreign Country, Hansen explores Turkey's place in the world as no other writer has. From Life Itself is a book for our time-a story for a world out of joint, and for all of us who feel the pressure of the disorienting global forces remaking our lives.
One neighborhood in Istanbul: a window on a city, country, region, and world in a state of upheaval.
Karagumruk, an Istanbul neighborhood once dominated by Ottoman-era homes, is now known for its cheap apartment blocks and petty thieves-and a massive influx of Syrian refugees. It's here that Suzy Hansen went looking for the truth behind the headlines of the Turkish president Erdo¿an's authoritarian turn, a catastrophic regional war, and an accelerating geopolitical crisis. She discovered the neighborhood's secrets and got to know its people: Ismail, the longtime muhtar, or neighborhood councilman; Huseyin, a loyalist for Erdo¿an's Islamic nationalist AK party; and Ebru, a real estate agent and mother with ambitions to unseat Ismail.
From Life Itself is the absorbing account of one neighborhood in Istanbul that has seen profound change. But in a remarkable turn, Hansen connects the events unfolding in Karagumruk to the forces roiling Turkey, the Middle East, and the world. She asks: Was Turkey a harbinger of what we'd soon see in other countries, the resurgence of authoritarianism? Or do the lives of this neighborhood, and the transformations of Erdo¿an's Turkey, reveal a more complex story?
The author of the acclaimed Pulitzer Prize finalist Notes on a Foreign Country, Hansen explores Turkey's place in the world as no other writer has. From Life Itself is a book for our time-a story for a world out of joint, and for all of us who feel the pressure of the disorienting global forces remaking our lives.
From Life Itself: Turkey, Istanbul, and a Neighborhood in the Age of Erdo¿an
From Life Itself: Turkey, Istanbul, and a Neighborhood in the Age of Erdo¿an
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Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940192841396 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Macmillan Audio |
| Publication date: | 04/28/2026 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |