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" Guidebooks to Istanbul only scratch the surface of this steamy city straddling the shimmering Bosporus. Luckily the former capital of the Ottoman Empire has fascinated generations of scholars, novelists, and artists, so it&amp;#039;s easy to pack great books about the metropolis&amp;#039;s storied history. And don&amp;#039;t forget to pick up a copy of Cornucopia, the glamorous English-language magazine about Turkish culture, style, and history. Istanbul: Memories and the City by Orhan Pamuk (Alfred A. Knopf, 2005). Life and love in 1960s and &amp;#039;70s Istanbul, as Turkey&amp;#039;s greatest writer records the black-comic intricacies of his grandparents, aunts, and cousins\u2014and the losses involved in the modernizing of the city. My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk (Alfred A. Knopf, 2001). The murder of a miniatures painter is the centerpiece of this portrait of Istanbul over a period of nine days in 1591. Atat\u00FCrk: The Biography of the Founder of Modern Turkey by Andrew Mango (Overlook, 2000). A warts-and-all study of the culture-shaking president whose picture hangs in every Turkish office and home and who transformed the land into a modern nation. Inside the Seraglio: Private Lives of the Sultans in Istanbul by John Freely (Viking, 1999). Decadence, scandal, murder, fratricide, and splendor, all in one racy, readable package. The Ottoman Centuries: The Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire by Lord Kinross (Harper Perennial, 1979). The ultimate history of the powerful House of Osman, a noble family that made the Ottoman Empire one of the greatest in the world before sliding into indolence, madness, and debauchery. The Decline and Fall of the Ottoman Empire by Alan Palmer(John Murray, 1992). Everything you need to know about the collapse of the sultans and the rise of Mustafa Kemal Atat\u00FCrk and democracy. Harem: The World Behind the Veilby Alev Lytle Croutier (Abbeville Press, 1991). The epic story of the Ottoman world&amp;#039;s hidden women, from sultanas to concubines, who manipulated the court and creatively intrigued against their rivals. Lords of the Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire by Jason Goodwin (Picador, 2003). A swift, engaging, colorful overview. Valide: A Novel of the Haremby Barbara Chase-Riboud (William Morrow &amp;amp;amp; Co., 1986). Based on the tale of a kidnapped cousin of Empress Josephine of France, this ripping novel by the author of Sally Hemings tells the story of a Creole girl from Martinique who becomes the mother of the greatest sultan of all. Byzantium: The Early Centuries; The Apogee; The Decline and Fall by John Julius Norwich (Folio Society, 2005). Lord Norwich&amp;#039;s three-volume account is a magisterial production and pretty gripping too. If you can&amp;#039;t make it through all three books, his A Short History of Byzantium (Vintage, 1998) condenses it all into one tidy package. Intimate Outsiders: The Harem in Ottoman and Orientalist Art and Travel Literature by Mary Roberts (Duke University Press, 2007). A scholarly but mesmerizing account of how Western and Eastern artists and writers put the mysteries of the harem to canvas and paper. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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