Hi all, I'm starting an ethnomusicology course in a few months with a focus on Middle Eastern music, esp Turkish. I have been looking at ethnomusicology books but I think a little background on the history would be pertinent as well.
Can anyone recommend me a book on the Ottomans that gives me an overview of the history? Seeing as most of my time has to be spent reading on music the book shouldn't really be too long, not more than about 300 pages or so for me to read on the side. Does anyone know of a decent book of roundabout this length?
So there really is only one serious, academic book that really covers the whole history of the Ottoman Empire in one volume -- Caroline Finkel's /Osman's Dream/ and it's pretty good, but maybe a little longer than what you're looking for. Stanford Shaw's two volume history of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey is very well researched by dry as a bone to read. There are some great primers out there that cover the late Ottoman period through the Turkish republic - /Turkey, Islam, Nationalism and Modernity/ by Carter Vaughn Findley and /Turkey: A Modern History/ by Erik Jan Zürcher are the best of the bunch. Halil Inalcik's /The Ottoman Empire in the Classical Age/ is the most straightforward overview of the early period through the 16th century. You might also find Reşat Kasaba's /A Moveable Empire/ or Cemal Kafadar's /Between Two Worlds/ interesting since they are basically extended historiographical essays on Ottoman history.
If there's a specific era/topic you're interested in, I'm happy to recommend more books, but those are the best, in my estimation, that address all or at least big chunks of Ottoman history.