Book Launch

Professor Marc David Baer introduced his new book, The Ottomans: Khans, Caesars, and Caliphs (Basic Books, 2021), followed by a conversation with Dr Dina Gusejnova.

The Ottoman Empire has long been depicted as the Islamic, Asian antithesis of the Christian, European West. But the reality was starkly different: the Ottomans’ multi-ethnic, multilingual, and multireligious domain reached deep into Europe’s heart. Indeed, the Ottoman rulers saw themselves as the new Romans. Recounting the Ottomans’ remarkable rise from a frontier principality to a world empire, historian Marc David Baer traces their debts to their Turkish, Mongolian, Islamic, and Byzantine heritage. The Ottomans pioneered religious toleration even as they used religious conversion to integrate conquered peoples. But in the nineteenth century, they embraced exclusivity, leading to ethnic cleansing, genocide, and the empire’s demise after the First World War. Upending Western accounts of the Renaissance, the Age of Exploration and the Reformation, The Ottomans vividly redefines the dynasty’s enduring impact on Europe and the world.

Meet our speakers and chair

Marc David Baer (@MarcDavidBaer1) is Professor of International History, International History Department, LSE

Professor Piers Ludlow is Head of the Department of International History and Professor of International History, LSE

Dr Dina Gusejnova is Assistant Professor, Department of International History, LSE

More about this event

The Department of International History (@lsehistory) teaches and conducts research on the international history of Britain, Europe and the world from the early modern era up to the present day.

Sponsored by the Department's Pre-Modern East and West, Modern World History and Conflict and Identity in Europe since the 18th Century research clusters.