this influence largely consists in the lengths to which Westerners were driven by their fear & hatred of the Ottomans. Recasting the discovery of the new world as Columbus& #39;s Crusade is interesting, but if Islamophobia was so powerful it drove him all the way across the Atlantic..
Well, that& #39;s not the best way to refute the clash of civilizations. Similarly, quoting European leaders calling Selim the devil incarnate is good evidence of his importance, but it works against Mikhail& #39;s states historiographic aim. But then if you were going to write a book...
showing the Ottomans& #39; influence in a role beyond just Islamic bogeyman, you& #39;d probably pick a sultan like Fatih, who spoke Latin and patronized Renaissance artists, or Suleyman, immortalized as a lawgiver in the US congress, rather than the warrior Selim.
Like a lot of efforts to challenge cliches about East & West, this one repeatedly falls back on them in order to make its subject matter sound important. Inevitably, the book ends by offering the Yavuz Selim bridge as a metaphor for the sultan& #39;s role connecting continents...
You can follow @NicholasDanfort.
Tip: mention @twtextapp on a Twitter thread with the keyword “unroll” to get a link to it.

Latest Threads Unrolled: