Erdogan Rising
The Battle for the Soul of Turkey
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Narrated by:
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Hannah Lucinda Smith
About this listen
‘Essential reading for anyone interested in Turkey and its future.’ Literary Review
‘Essential reading full stop.’ Peter Frankopan
‘It is a must.’ The Times
Who is Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and how did he lead a democracy on the fringe of Europe into dictatorship? How has chaos in the Middle East blown back over Turkey’s borders? And why doesn’t the West just cut Erdogan and his regime off?
Hannah Lucinda Smith has been living in Turkey as the Times correspondent for nearly a decade, reporting on the ground from the onset of the Arab Spring through terrorist attacks, mass protests, civil war, unprecedented refugee influx and the explosive, bloody 2016 coup attempt that threatened to topple – and kill – Erdogan.
Erdogan Rising introduces Turkey as a vital country, one that borders and buffers Western Europe, the Middle East and the old Soviet Union, marshals the second largest army in NATO and hosts more refugees than any other nation. As president, Erdogan is the face of devotion and division, a leader who mastered macho divide-and-rule politics a decade and a half before Donald Trump cottoned on, and has used it to lead his country into spiralling authoritarianism.
Yet Erdogan is no ordinary dictator. His elections are won only by slivers, and Turkey remains defined by its two warring cults: those who worship Erdogan, the wilful Muslim nationalist with a tightening authoritarian grip, and those who stand behind Ataturk, the secularist, westward-looking leader who founded the republic and remains its best loved icon – now eighty years dead.
Erdogan commands a following so devoted they compose songs in his honour, adorn their homes with his picture, and lay down their lives to keep him in power. Erdogan Rising asks how this century’s most successful populist won his position, and where Turkey is headed next.
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The appearance of a hastily constructed barbed wire entanglement through the heart of Berlin during the night of 12-13 August 1961 was both dramatic and unexpected. Within days, it had started to metamorphose into a structure that would come to symbolise the brutal insanity of the Cold War: the Berlin Wall. A city of almost four million was cut ruthlessly in two, unleashing a potentially catastrophic East-West crisis and plunging the entire world for the first time into the fear of imminent missile-borne apocalypse.
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TEAR. DOWN. THIS. WALL
- By Simone on 05-23-13
By: Frederick Taylor
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Crucible
- The Long End of the Great War and the Birth of a New World, 1917-1924
- By: Charles Emmerson
- Narrated by: Charles Emmerson
- Length: 25 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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In Petrograd, a fire is lit. The Tsar is packed off to Siberia. A rancorous Russian exile returns to proclaim a workers' revolution. In America, black soldiers who have served their country in Europe demand their rights at home. An Austrian war veteran trained by the German army to give rousing speeches against the Bolshevik peril begins to rail against the Jews. A solar eclipse turns a former patent clerk into a celebrity. An American reporter living the high life in Paris searches out a new literary style.
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Splendid in all respects
- By Paul Custer on 02-11-20
By: Charles Emmerson
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MBS
- The Rise to Power of Mohammed bin Salman
- By: Ben Hubbard
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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MBS is the untold story of how a mysterious young prince emerged from Saudi Arabia’s sprawling royal family to overhaul the economy and society of the richest country in the Middle East - and gather as much power as possible into his own hands. Since his father, King Salman, ascended to the throne in 2015, Mohammed bin Salman has leveraged his influence to restructure the kingdom’s economy, loosen its strict Islamic social codes, and confront its enemies around the region, especially Iran.
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Suffers from 'Objective Journalism' Syndrome
- By Anonymous User on 05-09-20
By: Ben Hubbard
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The Buried
- An Archaeology of the Egyptian Revolution
- By: Peter Hessler
- Narrated by: Peter Hessler
- Length: 16 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Drawn by a fascination with Egypt's rich history and culture, Peter Hessler moved with his wife and twin daughters to Cairo in 2011. He wanted to learn Arabic, explore Cairo's neighborhoods, and visit the legendary archaeological digs of Upper Egypt. After his years of covering China for The New Yorker, friends warned him Egypt would be a much quieter place. But not long before he arrived, the Egyptian Arab Spring had begun, and now the country was in chaos.
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A Fascinating, Funny, and Moving Account of Egypt
- By Jefferson on 07-23-19
By: Peter Hessler
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Do Not Disturb
- The Story of a Political Murder and an African Regime Gone Bad
- By: Michela Wrong
- Narrated by: Michela Wrong
- Length: 18 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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We think we know the story of Africa’s Great Lakes region. Following the Rwandan genocide, an idealistic group of young rebels overthrew the brutal regime in Kigali, ushering in an era of peace and stability that made Rwanda the donor darling of the West, winning comparisons with Switzerland and Singapore. But the truth was considerably more sinister.
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What is true and what isn't?
- By Buretto on 11-30-21
By: Michela Wrong
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The Hidden History of Burma
- Race, Capitalism, and the Crisis of Democracy in the 21st Century
- By: Thant Myint-U
- Narrated by: Assaf Cohen
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Precariously positioned between China and India, Burma's population has suffered dictatorship, natural disaster, and the dark legacies of colonial rule. But when decades of military dictatorship finally ended and internationally beloved Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi emerged from long years of house arrest, hopes soared. As historian, former diplomat, and presidential advisor, Thant Myint-U saw the cracks forming. In this insider's diagnosis of a country at a breaking point, he dissects all of the elements that came together to challenge the incipient democracy.
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Comprehensive Account on Burma’s recent problems
- By Anonymous User on 11-18-19
By: Thant Myint-U
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The Unfathomable Ascent
- How Hitler Came to Power
- By: Peter Ross Range
- Narrated by: Paul Hodgson
- Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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On the night of January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler leaned out of a spotlit window of the Reich chancellery in Berlin, bursting with joy. The moment seemed unbelievable, even to Hitler. After an improbable political journey that came close to faltering on many occasions, his march to power had finally succeeded. While the path of Hitler's rise has been told in books covering larger portions of his life, no previous work has focused solely on his eight-year climb to rule: 1925-1933.
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The best account of Hitler’s rise to power.
- By Deal W. Hudson on 08-26-20
By: Peter Ross Range
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Into the Hands of the Soldiers
- Freedom and Chaos in Egypt and the Middle East
- By: David D. Kirkpatrick
- Narrated by: David D. Kirkpatrick
- Length: 13 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Egypt has long set the paradigm for Arab autocracy. It is the keeper of the peace with Israel and the cornerstone of the American-backed regional order. So when Egyptians rose up to demand democracy in 2011, their 30 months of freedom convulsed the whole region. Now a new strongman, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, is building a dictatorship so severe some call it totalitarian. The economy sputters, an insurgency simmers, Christians suffer, and the Israeli military has been forced to intervene. But some in Washington - including President Trump - applaud Sisi as a crucial ally.
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may get better, but presentation is off putting
- By Fruggs on 08-28-18
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The Compatriots
- The Brutal and Chaotic History of Russia's Exiles, Émigrés, and Agents Abroad
- By: Andrei Soldatov, Irina Borogan
- Narrated by: Nick Sullivan
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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The history of Russian espionage is soaked in blood, from a spontaneous pistol shot that killed a secret policeman in Romania in 1924 to the attempt to poison an exiled KGB colonel in Salisbury, England, in 2017. Russian émigrés have found themselves continually at the center of the mayhem. Russians began leaving the country in big numbers in the late 19th century, fleeing pogroms, tsarist secret police persecution, and the Revolution, then Stalin and the KGB - and creating the third-largest diaspora in the world.
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Great book. Extremely detailed history of the USSR
- By M. Gordon on 03-03-20
By: Andrei Soldatov, and others
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The Long Hangover
- Putin’s New Russia and the Ghosts of the Past
- By: Shaun Walker
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Long Hangover, Shaun Walker provides new insight into contemporary Russia and its search for a new identity, telling the story through the country's troubled relationship with its Soviet past. Walker not only explains Vladimir Putin's goals and the government's official manipulations of history, but also focuses on ordinary Russians and their motivations. He charts how Putin raised victory in World War II to the status of a national founding myth in the search for a unifying force to heal a divided country, and shows how dangerous the ramifications of this have been.
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Fascinating and fair book on Putin's Russia
- By MyPublicName on 02-16-18
By: Shaun Walker
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The Rebel and the Kingdom
- The True Story of the Secret Mission to Overthrow the North Korean Regime
- By: Bradley Hope
- Narrated by: Lee Osorio
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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In the early 2000s, Adrian Hong was a soft-spoken Yale undergraduate looking for his place in the world. After reading a harrowing account of life inside North Korea, he realized he had found a cause so pressing that he was ready to devote his life to it. Hong journeyed to China, outwitting Chinese security services as he helped ferry asylum-seeking North Korean escapees to safety. The Rebel and the Kingdom is an exhilarating account of a man who turns his back on the status quo—to instead live boldly by his principles.
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Phenomenal true story
- By NYCdogmomma on 11-13-22
By: Bradley Hope
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Balkan Ghosts
- A Journey Through History
- By: Robert D. Kaplan
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 12 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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From the assassination that triggered World War I to the ethnic warfare in Serbia, Bosnia, and Croatia, the Balkans have been the crucible of the 20th century, the place where terrorism and genocide first became tools of policy. Chosen as one of the Best Books of the Year by the New York Times, and greeted with critical acclaim as "the most insightful and timely work on the Balkans to date" (The Boston Globe), Kaplan's prescient, enthralling, and often chilling political travelogue is already a modern classic.
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Anti religious/anti catholic hit piece
- By Daniel Calvert on 05-04-21
By: Robert D. Kaplan
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Black Wave
- Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry that Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East
- By: Kim Ghattas
- Narrated by: Kim Ghattas, Nan McNamara
- Length: 16 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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With vivid story-telling, extensive historical research, and on-the-ground reporting, Ghattas dispels accepted truths about a region she calls home. She explores how Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran, once allies and twin pillars of US strategy in the region, became mortal enemies after 1979. She shows how they used and distorted religion in a competition that went well beyond geopolitics. Feeding intolerance, suppressing cultural expression, and encouraging sectarian violence from Egypt to Pakistan, the war for cultural supremacy led to many events.
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Unveiling the darkness of the Middle East
- By Matty D on 02-18-20
By: Kim Ghattas
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The Shining Path
- Love, Madness, and Revolution in the Andes
- By: Orin Starn, Miguel La Serna
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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On May 17, 1980, on the eve of Peru's presidential election, five masked men stormed a small town. They set election ballots ablaze and vanished, but not before planting a red hammer-and-sickle banner in the town square. The lone man arrested the next morning later swore allegiance to a group called Shining Path. Described by a US State Department cable as "cold-blooded and bestial", Shining Path orchestrated bombings, assassinations, and massacres across the cities, countryside, and jungles of Peru in a murderous campaign to seize power and impose a Communist government.
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Understanding my wife
- By Eugene on 06-10-22
By: Orin Starn, and others
What listeners say about Erdogan Rising
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Saul M
- 09-18-20
Overall fascinating profile of Erdogan’s Turkey
The book gives a interesting look inside Erdogan’s Turkey. The author provides quick profiles of key supporters and certain opponents of Erdogan, as well as laying out the political maneuverings of Erdogan. His populism has entrenched his supporters so deep in power that it will take the opposition years to dig out Erdogan’s machine. As an American there are some comparisons to be made with trump, particularly with his opponents. The democrats need to provide an actual alternative vision of America that appeals to the working class instead of being the no vote.
However, some nitpicks in some of the author’s descriptions. One is how she described the YPG military marches as North Korean-like. Personally I found it unnecessary to compare them to North Korea, I’ve seen their marches before and the YPG’s marches aren’t as choreographed as NK’s. I’d like to know why she thinks that they’re North Korean like? Second is when she described the Tsarnaev brothers as Kyrgyz. I had to double take on that because they were Chechen (despite being born in Kyrgyzstan) and identified as such.
Overall a good read.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 04-04-24
Quite Good
Fascinating and well told story about, not just Erdogan, but also modern Turkish politics and identity.
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- Kindle Customer
- 04-15-20
Good introduction to Erdogan and present day Turkey’s political seen
Erdogan Rising provides a good overview of Erdogan, the man, and his rise to power. Smith includes profiles on a number of important figures including Atatürk, Davotoglu, Gullen, Öcalan, and a few others who have also shaped modern Turkey and Erdogan’s rise, or at least who shine light on Turkey’s present situation under Erdogan. Smith is a journalist so much of the book is a first person narrative. As such, it occasionally is a bit uneven in terms of its focus, with perhaps too much time devoted to her experience in Syria, as well as the relations between Turkey and her native UK. However, by capturing the stories of a diverse cast of characters (including Atatürk’s last remaining descendants, a man who has taken on a career as an Atatürk impersonator, the founder of Erdogan’s biggest mouthpiece in the media, a member of Turkey’s tiny Jewish community), Smith is able to give a reader a feeling of what Turkey is like in a way that a history book or political sketch cannot. Additionally, her narrating of her work is quite strong with a lot of authenticity in her voice. As someone who did not know much about Turkey before, I recommend this book if someone wants to get an introductory taste of one of the region’s and the world’s most important and fascinating figures as well as the country he increasingly rules with an iron fist.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Michael
- 02-04-23
Portrait of Modern-Day Turkey
As subtitle suggests, this is more of a portrait of the country than of Erdogan himself. He is brought into focus at key parts, but there are long stretches where his name isn't mentioned at all. Chapters cover a range of topics having to do with Turkey in the Erdogan era: border issues with Syria, the plight of Kurds and other minorities, Turkey's ambivalent relationship with the rest of Europe and the U.S., etc. I listened to it while on a trip to Turkey and it helped me to get a feeling for the country. A lot to what the author says was corroborated by the people I talked with. Her narration is great. I loved her voice, very easy to listen to. Sometimes, having the author narrate his or her own work can be a disaster, but in this case it was perfect.
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- AJ
- 07-28-20
Better than I thought it was going to be
The author dances around being a journalist thus impartial versus being a woman, a feminist, a Westerner, an individual, an investigator, a political oracle, a member of the oppressed, and a member of the elite as she tries to make her points.
the author freaks me out a bit because I don't know if I can trust her work, not that need to because I lived in Turkey for 13+ years and speak Turkish at a native level. I don't know if I can trust her because she has brought up some very good points in her book about Turkey but then she calls the United States a liberal democracy which thank God it has never been and will never be. US is a constitutional republic. This is very basic, yet she misses it, but she knows Adnan Menderes' upbringing quite well.
Self contradictory at times but, as I said it is much better than I thought it was going to be. Turkey is not an easy subject.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Liv
- 04-27-20
Fabulous historic, political, and cultural account of Erdoğan’s rise to power!
This is a fabulous historic, political, and cultural account of Erdoğan’s rise to power! It also captures the way he has maneuvered within Turkish culture and redrafted the national narrative well.
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- Clare Jenkins
- 05-14-20
Fascinating, brave & the barer of a sad truth.
An enlightening and deeply informative piece. Perfectly choreographed & would highly recommend to anyone with a passion to further understand this ancient land & 'protector' from the East. Deeply moving. Thank you.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Alexander
- 11-07-19
Best book of it's type on Turkey.
Wonderful look at a fascinating time. Author reads the book, providing accurate pronunciation of Turkish, and has access to a truly remarkable variety of sources.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 08-24-22
Average read/listen.
If you’re the type to educate yourself about every world leader or of specific ones for particular reasons, this will likely disappoint or just be nominal at best. I thought it good background material for a person/country/topic of interest of mine but aside from a few standout details, the book is average at best.
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- abe palaz
- 01-27-22
very dissaponting
I saw the book in an audible and purchased it with enthusiasm. I have been living in Istanbul for the last 12 years and was truly interested in an objective outside view of this person who has been ruling Turkey for the last 20 years.
She starts with Erdogan but gets into details of terrorism, archeology anthropology linguistic history, and racial issues where she fails to understand most if not all of these topics and she forgets the topic of the book: Mr. Erdogan. she loses objectivity and therefore credibility. By chapter 10 I could not continue reading. I am sorry but I am disappointed. An observant journalist could have written all the bad things and whatever little good things about this person without really digging into topics where her knowledge does allow.
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