Talaat Pasha

“This is an extremely important book that not only fills a large gap in the existing scholarship but also introduces new perspectives on the Armenian Genocide. It is a must-read for anyone who wishes to understand late Ottoman history and the Committee of Union and Progress, which organized the genocide against the Christians during First World War.”–Taner Akçam, author of A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility“His book is invaluable, offering a bigger picture than Akçam’s, both of the events that prefigured the massacres of 1915-1917 and of the war. The view from Talaat Pasha’s desk gives a perspective that would be hard to beat.”—Mark Mazower, New York Review of Books“A highly valuable model of the use of biography in the service of history and the social sciences. Kieser’s careful reading of the Armenian Genocide offers precious keys to understanding the process of the Islamization and Turkification of the late Ottoman Empire.”–Hamit Bozarslan, author of Violence in the Middle East: From Political Struggle to Self-Sacrifice“In this brilliant book, Kieser moves the architect of Ottoman imperial nationalism and the Armenian Genocide to center stage in the European drama. This is the first scholarly biography of a man both revered by the beneficiaries and reviled by the victims of his drive to save an empire, only to preside over its demise.”–Ronald Grigor Suny, author of “They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else”: A History of the Armenian Genocide“This long-awaited biography is very timely and masterfully executed. Kieser reinstates Talaat Pasha as a major statesman of twentieth-century European and world history.”–Stefan Ihrig, author of Justifying Genocide: Germany and the Armenians from Bismarck to Hitler

Hans-Lukas Kieser is associate professor in the Centre for the Study of Violence at the University of Newcastle in Australia and adjunct professor of history at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. His many books include Nearest East: American Millennialism and Mission to the Middle East; The End of the Ottomans; and Turkey beyond Nationalism.