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God's Shadow: Sultan Selim, His Ottoman Empire, and the Making of the Modern World Audiobook
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Long neglected in world history, the Ottoman Empire was a hub of intellectual fervor, geopolitical power, and enlightened pluralistic rule. At the height of their authority in the sixteenth century, the Ottomans controlled more territory and ruled over more people than any world power, forcing Europeans out of the Mediterranean and to the New World.
Yet, despite its towering influence and centrality to the rise of our modern world, the Ottoman Empire's history has for centuries been distorted, misrepresented, and even suppressed in the West. Now Alan Mikhail presents a vitally needed recasting of Ottoman history, retelling the story of the Ottoman conquest of the world through the dramatic biography of Sultan Selim I (1470–1520).
Mikhail's game-changing account uses Selim's life to upend prevailing shibboleths about Islamic history and jingoistic "rise of the West" theories that have held sway for decades. Whether recasting Christopher Columbus's voyages to the "Americas" as a bumbling attempt to slay Muslims or showing how the Ottomans allowed slaves to become the elite of society while Christian states at the very same time waged the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade, God's Shadow radically reshapes our understanding of the importance of Selim's Ottoman Empire in the history of the modern world.
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“Full of fine details of this cross-cultural encounter, but its most arresting aspect is Mikhail’s second claim: that ‘the Ottoman Empire made our modern world’…The story is always interesting…[and] it makes you think about things in a new way.”
— New York Times Book Review
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“[A] refreshingly readable history book that offers a new world view.”
— Times Literary Supplement (London) -
“Mikhail’s recalibration of the modern era is ambitious and provocative.”
— Air Mail -
“Written with flair and deep insight, this thought-provoking account is both a major historical work and a genuine page-turner.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review) -
“Global economics and politics are well illuminated, as are the connections and relationships between Eurasia and the Americas…Exciting, engaging, scholarly yet accessible work for all readers of world history.”
— Library Journal (starred review)
Awards
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A New York Times Book Review pick of Best Books Now in Paperback
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Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction
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A Times Literary Supplement Best Book of the Year
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A History Today Pick of the Year's Best Books
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A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2020
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About Alan Mikhail
Alan Mikhail, professor of history and chair of the department of history at Yale University, is a leading historian of his generation who has reforged our understandings of the past through his prize-winning books on the history of the Middle East.
About James Cameron Stewart
James Cameron Stewart is a veteran actor whose performances include roles in theater, film, and television. He was trained at Hull University and the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. His credits include Outlander, Jericho, Flying Blind, Golden Years, Emmerdale, London’s Burning, Eastenders, Coronation Street, and Holby City.