{"product_id":"gods-shadow-sultan-selim-his-ottoman-empire-and-the-making-of-the-modern-world-9781631492396","title":"God's Shadow: Sultan Selim  His Ottoman Empire  and the Making of the Modern World","description":"\u003cp\u003eBest Books of the Year  Times Literary Supplement  Publishers Weekly  History Today Longlisted  Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction Editors Choice  New York Times Book Review A stunning work of global history. . . . Alan Mikhail offers a bold and thoroughly convincing new way to think about the origins of the modern world. . . . A tour de force. Greg Grandin 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  with extraordinary military dominance and unparalleled monopolies over trade routes  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 Empires 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 (14701520). Born to a concubine  and the fourth of his sultan fathers ten sons  Selim was never meant to inherit the throne. With personal charisma and military prowessas well as the guidance of his remarkably gifted mother  GlbaharSelim claimed power over the empire in 1512 and  through ruthless ambition  nearly tripled the territory under Ottoman control  building a governing structure that lasted into the twentieth century. At the same time  Selimknown by his subjects as Gods Shadow on Earthfostered religious diversity  welcoming Jews among other minority populations into the empire; encouraged learning and philosophy; and penned his own verse. Drawing on previously unexamined sources from multiple languages  and with original maps and stunning illustrations  Mikhails game-changing account challenges readers to recalibrate their sense of history (Leslie Peirce)  adroitly using Selims life to upend prevailing shibboleths about Islamic history and jingoistic rise of the West theories that have held sway for decades. Whether recasting Christopher Columbuss 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  Gods Shadow radically reshapes our understanding of the importance of Selims Ottoman Empire in the history of the modern world. 16 pages of color illustrations; 40 black-and-white illustrations\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45960464007221,"sku":"ByrdShop_163149239X","price":23.84,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9781631492396.jpg?v=1788288015","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/gods-shadow-sultan-selim-his-ottoman-empire-and-the-making-of-the-modern-world-9781631492396","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}