Princeton U. Press

Atatürk; an intellectual biography.

Enigmatic, complex, and visionary, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was the first president of Turkey (beginning in 1923) and the founder of modern Turkey — the leader of the country as it transitioned from the Ottoman imperial order into a modern state. Hanioglu (Near Eastern studies, Princeton U.) states in his introduction: "...any scholar seeking to grapple with the historical Ataturk must engage primarily in demythologizing, historicizing, and contextualizing through the use of primary source material." He draws on Ataturk's speeches, correspondence, and other writings (as well as selected secondary sources) to do just that, with exclusive focus on his ideas and, generally, avoidance of the details of his personal life. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Line in the sand; a history of the western U.S.-Mexico border.

Meticulously researched and thoughtfully presented, this study weaves together geographical, chronological, cultural, economic, and political aspects of a problematic boundary. St. John (history, Harvard U.) discusses how the border was defined, land pirates and Apaches on the border, the cultivation of capitalism, policing, war, fence-building, the regulation of morality, and the management of immigration. Her close attention to the many dimensions and ramifications of the "line in the sand" sheds substantial light on current dilemmas and options. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)