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In the Service of the Sultan

Author: Ian Gardiner

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 2007-01-19

Total Pages: 303

ISBN-13: 1848849907

A memoir of how a small number of British officers led Muslim soldiers in the hard-fought anti-insurgency war that has shaped today’s Gulf. While the Americans were fighting in Vietnam, a struggle of even greater strategic significance was taking place in the Middle East: The Sultanate of Oman stood guard at the entrance to the Arabian Gulf, and thus controlled the movement of oil from that region. In the 1960s and 70s, the Communists tried to seize this artery and, had they succeeded, the consequences for the West and for the Middle East would have been disastrous—and yet, few people have ever heard of this geo-political drama at the height of the Cold War. In the Service of the Sultan “is an enthralling book. In a mere 180 pages, Ian Gardiner, an army officer who fought with the Sultan of Oman’s forces, succeeds in three major objectives. He describes what it is like to be a young officer leading men of different nationalities into combat against wily and courageous guerrillas. He captures the landscape and the spirit of Oman, ‘that entrancing, fascinating, hauntingly beautiful country.’ Finally, he puts the battles he fought in their geopolitical context . . . It should be read with enduring pleasure by anyone who wishes to reaffirm his pride in his country and in its fighting forces” (The Telegraph). “For anyone interested in understanding the ingredients behind a successful counterinsurgency campaign, In the Service of the Sultan is a must read.”—Imperial Armour Blogspot “Politics, history, irregular warfare, religion, and international affairs: all are ingredients in this absorbing, informative read.”—Oxford & Cambridge Club Military History Group

On the Sultan's Service

Author: Douglas S. Brookes

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 2020-02-04

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 0253045533

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"When at last we were approaching the Harem, the Sultan, surely quite alarmed, said to me in a low voice (was that so the eunuch walking in front of us wouldn't hear, or because in this lonely and dark passageway he was frightened of his own voice?), Ne olacak? 'What is to become of things?'" Translated into English for the first time, this memoir provides fascinating first-hand insight into the personalities, intrigues, and inner workings of the Ottoman palace in its final decades. Written by Halid Ziya Uşaklıgil, who was First Secretary to Sultan Mehmed V and would go on to be one of Turkey's most famous novelists, On the Sultan's Service makes available to English readers the remarkable account of life and work in the Ottoman palace chancery—the public, "business" side of the palace—in its final incarnation. We learn of the court's new role under this second-to-last Sultan in post-Revolution Turkey. No longer exercising political power, the palace negotiated the minefields between political factions, sought ways to unite the empire in the face of sharpening nationalist aspirations, and faced with a kind of shocked despondency the opening salvos of the wars that were to overwhelm the country. Uşaklıgil includes interviews with the Imperial family and descriptions of royal nuptials, the palaces and its visitors, and the crises that shook the court. He delivers an insightful and moving portrait of Mehmed V, the elderly gentleman who reigned over the Ottoman Empire through both Balkan Wars and World War I.

Cephas, Yogyakarta

Author: G. J. Knaap

Publisher: Brill

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 152

ISBN-13:

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During the nineteenth century the art of photography in the Netherlands Indies, now Indonesia, was mainly in European hands. Gradually, members of other ethnic groups moved into the field. Among indigenous ethnic groups, the pioneer was the Javanese Kassian Cephas (1845-1912). From the early 1870s Kassian Cephas was photographer to the court of the Sultans of Yogyakarta. As such he was responsible for many portraits of the royal family, in particular during the reign of Sultan Hamengkubuwana VII. Besides portraits of the royal family, Kassian Cephas documented theatrical performances and ceremonies at court. Apart from a biography of Kassian Cephas and his son and successor Sem Cephas (1870-1918), this book offers a selection of 98 pictures of the exquisite work of these photographers, drawn mainly from the photographic collection of the Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde (KITLV). This selection introduces the reader to a world of royal dignity, gracious dancers, shadowy town views, impressive temple ruins and the mysterious Indian Ocean coast.

Sultan in Oman

Author: Jan Morris

Publisher: Eland Publishing

Published: 2008-07

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781906011178

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An account of the first crossing of the Omani desert by motorcar, as Jan Morris accompanied the Sultan on his royal progress, with the winds of change - oil and revolution - in the background.

The Sultan's Shadow

Author: Christiane Bird

Publisher: Random House Incorporated

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 0345469402

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A dramatic account of the slave trade in the early 19th century Indian Ocean is presented through the stories of the Omani Sultan Said and his daughter, Princess Salme, offering insight into the Arabian Peninsula kingdom's lucrative growth and ties to America.

Guns for the Sultan

Author: Gábor Ágoston

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2005-03-24

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 9780521843133

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Gabor Agoston's book contributes to an emerging strand of military history, that examines organised violence as a challenge to early modern states, their societies and economies. His is the first to examine the weapons technology and armaments industries of the Ottoman Empire, the only Islamic empire that threatened Europe on its own territory in the age of the Gunpowder Revolution. Based on extensive research in the Turkish archives, the book affords much insight regarding the early success and subsequent failure of an Islamic empire against European adversaries. It demonstrates Ottoman flexibility and the existence of an early modern arms market and information exchange across the cultural divide, as well as Ottoman self-sufficiency in weapons and arms production well into the eighteenth century. Challenging the sweeping statements of Eurocentric and Orientalist scholarship, the book disputes the notion of Islamic conservatism, the Ottomans' supposed technological inferiority and the alleged insufficiencies in production capacity. This is a provocative, intelligent and penetrating analysis, which successfully contends traditional perceptions of Ottoman and Islamic history.

The Black Sultan

Author: L. Ron Hubbard

Publisher: Galaxy Press LLC

Published: 2013-03-21

Total Pages: 112

ISBN-13: 1592124895

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Meet Eddie Moran, a slightly disreputable American cooling his heels in French Morocco. And don’t be surprised if the young Cary Grant comes to mind, because Eddie’s as smooth as they come, one step ahead of the game...and of the police. Who’s after him? Just about everybody. What’s he done? A bit of everything—smuggler, revolutionary, whatever crooked little scheme will pay for his next meal or next drink. But Eddie’s latest caper is one he may not be able to escape...even if he wants to. Stumbling into a fight between a couple of Berber chieftains, Eddie lands in a prison run by The Black Sultan. He may be a captive of the Sultan, but he’s captivated by a stunning young woman the Sultan means to add to his harem. For her, Eddie might just go straight—if he can get them out of this hellhole alive. When The Black Sultan was originally published, Hubbard said that writers too often “forget a great deal of the languorous quality which made the Arabian Nights so pleasing. Jewels, beautiful women, towering cities filled with mysterious shadows, sultans equally handy with robes of honor and the beheading sword.... These things still exist, undimmed, losing no luster to the permeating Occidental flavor which reaches even the far corners of the earth today.” Hubbard brings this unique insight to his stories of North Africa and the Legionnaires, investing them with an authenticity of time, place and character that kept his readers asking for more. Also includes the adventure story, “Escape for Three,” in which a bold trio of French Legionnaires come to the rescue of their great leader—only to decide he may not be so great after all. “Action, strong characters, suspense, snappy dialogue, and titillating romance.” —Publishers Weekly

The Book of the Sultan's Seal

Author: Youssef Rakha

Publisher: Interlink Books

Published: 2015-03-06

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781566569910

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A PROFOUNDLY ORIGINAL DEBUT FROM HIGHLY ACCLAIMED EGYPTIAN WRITER Youssef Rakha’s extraordinary The Book of the Sultan’s Seal was published less than two weeks after then Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down, following mass protests, in February 2011. It’s hard to imagine a debut novel of greater urgency or more thrilling innovation. Modeled on a medieval Arabic manuscript in the form of a letter addressed to the writer’s friend, The Book of the Sultan’s Seal is made up of nine chapters, each centered on a drive our hero, Mustafa Çorbaci, takes around greater Cairo in the spring of 2007. Together these create a portrait of Cairo, city of post-9/11 Islam. In a series of dreams and visions, Mustafa Çorbaci encounters the spirit of the last Ottoman sultan and embarks on a mission the sultan assigns him. Çorbaci’s trials shed light on the contemporary Arab Muslim’s desperation for a sense of identity: Sultan’s Seal is both a suspenseful, erotic, riotous novel and an examination of accounts of Muslim demise. The way to a renaissance, Çorbaci’s journeys lead us to see, may have less to do with dogma and jihad than with love poetry, calligraphy, and the cultural diversity and richness within Islam. With his first novel, Rakha has created a language truly all his own—an achievement that has earned international acclaim. This profoundly original work both retells canonical Arabic classics and offers a new version of “middle Arabic,” in which the formal meets the vernacular. Now finally in English, in Paul Starkey’s masterful translation, The Book of the Sultan’s Seal will astonish new readers around the world.

The New Sultan

Author: Soner Cagaptay

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2017-04-30

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 178673236X

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In a world of rising tensions between Russia and the United States, the Middle East and Europe, Sunnis and Shiites, Islamism and liberalism, Turkey is at the epicentre. And at the heart of Turkey is its right-wing populist president, Recep Tayyip Erdo?an. Since 2002, Erdo?an has consolidated his hold on domestic politics while using military and diplomatic means to solidify Turkey as a regional power. His crackdown has been brutal and consistent - scores of journalists arrested, academics officially banned from leaving the country, university deans fired and many of the highest-ranking military officers arrested. In some senses, the nefarious and failed 2016 coup has given Erdo?an the licence to make good on his repeated promise to bring order and stability under a 'strongman'. Here, leading Turkish expert Soner Cagaptay will look at Erdo?an's roots in Turkish history, what he believes in and how he has cemented his rule, as well as what this means for the world. The book will also unpick the 'threats' Erdogan has worked to combat - from the liberal Turks to the Gulen movement, from coup plotters to Kurdish nationalists - all of which have culminated in the crisis of modern Turkey.

The Yompers

Author: Ian R. Gardiner

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 2012-04-19

Total Pages: 365

ISBN-13: 1781599181

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A British company commander details his experience serving in the Falklands War and reflects on the 1982 conflict. “Yomping” was the word Commandos used for carrying heavy loads on long marches. It caught the public’s imagination during this short but bitter campaign and epitomized the grim determination and professionalism of our troops… Called to action on April 2, 1982, the men of 45 Commando Royal Marines assembled from around the world to sail 8,000 miles to recover the Falkland Islands from Argentine invasion. Lacking helicopters and short of food, they “yomped” in appalling weather carrying overloaded rucksacks, across the roughest terrain. Yet for a month in mid-winter, they remained a cohesive fighting-fit body of men. They then fought and won the highly successful and fierce night battle for Two Sisters, a 1,000-foot-high mountain which was the key to the defensive positions around Stanley. More than just a first-hand story of that epic feat, this book is the first to be written by a company commander in the Falklands War. It offers a vivid description of the “yomp” and infantry fighting, and it also offers penetrating insights into the realities of war at higher levels. It is a unique combination of descriptive writing about frontline fighting and wider reflections on the Falklands War, and conflict in general. “This is the real thing, from someone who gave the orders and led from the front, from beginning to bitter end. His account is articulate, poignant and precise, even though thirty years have elapsed . . . highly recommended.” —Military History Monthly