{"product_id":"from-life-itself-turkey-istanbul-and-a-neighborhood-in-the-age-of-erdogan","title":"From Life Itself: Turkey, Istanbul, and a Neighborhood in the Age of Erdoğan","description":"\n\u003ctable align=\"center\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"2\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd class=\"productDetailSmallElements\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Hansen elegantly maps out the constellation of forces that brought Turkey to [an] unprecedented moment . . . Rich and complex . . . As [Hansen] shows in this beautifully observant book, the first steps to resisting the easy seductions of cynicism are to look, listen and try to understand.\" \u003cb\u003e--Jennifer Szalai, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Everybody needs to buy [this book] . . . [Full of] great writing, amazing personalities.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--Ben Rhodes, \u003ci\u003ePod Save the World\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"An insightful look into Erdoğan, Turkish Islamism, parts of Istanbul, and most of all how Turkey slid into autocracy. One of the best case studies I know of on how a fragile democracy can go away.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--Tyler Cowen, \u003ci\u003eMarginal Revolution\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Through Karagumruk, Ms Hansen offers a window into the Turkey [Erdogan] has created. Few books in English have captured its texture better than this one.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eThe Economist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\" \n\u003ci\u003eFrom Life Itself \u003c\/i\u003eis a dizzying tour de force: the simultaneously cosmic and microscopic record of a transformative decade in Istanbul, Turkey, and the world. Current events and political analyses are deftly interwoven with, and sometimes subverted by, firsthand accounts of life as it is actually lived. By turns gutting and exhilarating, filled with vitality and humanity, Hansen's writing defies cynicism, thwarts easy generalizations, and leaves the reader with a sense of wonder.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e--Elif Batuman, author of \u003ci\u003eEither\/Or \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Idiot\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Hansen traces a story that illuminates a politics of mass migration and nationalist backlash that has resonances far beyond Turkey . . . Ambitious . . . Lovingly written and well observed.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e--Sami Kent, \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Hansen writes fluently and colorfully and has a sharp eye for detail . . . The narrative really soars [. . .] when the author wanders the streets of Karagumruk and speaks to those who live there. The success of microhistories such as this hinges on its characters, and Hansen provides a colorful cast.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--Peter Conradi, \u003ci\u003eThe Times \u003c\/i\u003e(London)\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"[Hansen] goes to remarkable lengths to achieve a degree of realism that wasn't present in Turkey coverage in previous generations of journalists . . . [Her] discussions are always grounded in some kind of real person she has built a relationship with . . . Hansen is arguing that depth brings its own breadth.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--Selim Koru, \u003ci\u003eForeign Policy\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"The fruit of a half-decade of reporting, \n\u003ci\u003eFrom Life Itself \u003c\/i\u003eallows Turks to speak for themselves . . . Hansen intertwines these personal anecdotes and explanations with the history of the AK Party and shows how Erdoğan built his power on the land, 'his dark materials'. Her diagnosis is on the mark.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eKaya Genç, \u003ci\u003eLiterary Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Fascinating . . . An urgent cautionary tale for American readers . . . Hansen's deep-rooted reporting has undeniable gravitas . . . A rich portrait of a community--and a country--in the shadow of an increasingly powerful president.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews \u003c\/i\u003e(starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"[Suzy Hansen is] one of my favorite, never-miss bylines . . . [ \n\u003ci\u003eFrom Life Itself\u003c\/i\u003e] is so grounded in people and life that it actually makes what could otherwise be a very abstract, cultural, or political analysis feel very real and very relatable. And I think that is the best kind of journalism.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e--Joumana \u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eKhatib, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review \u003c\/i\u003epodcast\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\" \n\u003ci\u003eFrom Life Itself\u003c\/i\u003e is an impressive achievement, critical if one wants to understand modern Turkey. Hansen never fails to mention the historical events that drive the engine that has led to autocracy, but she also, to her credit, continually gives her book a personal, emotional touch . . . I've never read a book about Turkey that so completely gets at the complexity of the [country's] political dilemma.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--Jeffrey Kahrs, \u003ci\u003eThe Arts Fuse\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"A clinic in writing contemporary history through journalism . . . I can't say enough about it. Hansen skillfully weaves more than one hundred years of late-Ottoman-to-Republican-era history into a narrative that contextualizes the cleavages in Turkish society . . . Her craftwork is no less impressive . . . Don't miss this book.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e--Spencer Ackerman\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Passionate and exhaustive.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--Tunku Varadarajan, \u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Hansen provides an immersive experience . . . A nuanced and authentic depiction . . . Captivating.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--Michael Bobelian, \u003ci\u003eWashington Independent Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"For readers interested in geopolitics, this is the kind of book that reminds you that big political shifts rarely feel 'big' while you're living through them . . . Hansen writes with empathy for people navigating a country that's becoming more polarized and more self-conscious about its identity, a dynamic anyone watching global politics will recognize--maybe even in your own backyard.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e--Ian Bremmer\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"The Sufis tell us of two paths to enlightenment: to look inside oneself and find the universe, or to look out at the universe and find oneself. Here Suzy Hansen is doing both. In her intimate examination of one neighborhood of one city of one country that is not her own, she reveals to us the swirling patterns of our entire world.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e--Mohsin Hamid, author of \u003ci\u003eExit West \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Last White Man\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"To read \n\u003ci\u003eFrom Life Itself \u003c\/i\u003eis to walk through walls and step into a sacred place, immersing in the longings, memories, and fractures of people you will never forget. Through one Istanbul neighborhood, Suzy Hansen tells some of the biggest stories of our time--about global migration, authoritarian rule, and the collapse of national identity. The result is a rare gift--a spellbinding work of narrative nonfiction that is masterfully reported, deeply felt, lyrically written, and urgently relevant.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e--Andrea Elliott, \u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cb\u003ePulitzer Prize\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e-winning author of \u003ci\u003eInvisible Child\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"With great sympathy and nuance, Hansen shares the intimate lives of an array of Karagümrük's denizens, all set against Erdoğan's systematic dismantling of the courts, the press, opposition parties, election integrity, and any other force that might hinder the country's appropriation by Erdoğan and his AK Party . . . Lessons abound in this fine case study.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e--Alan Moores, \u003ci\u003eBooklist \u003c\/i\u003e(starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Suzy Hansen's \n\u003ci\u003eFrom Life Itself\u003c\/i\u003e is the most startlingly vivid portrait of the rise of authoritarianism I have read, combining geopolitical, cultural, and economic analysis alongside sharp local reporting. She masterfully tells a complex story with clarity and force, leaving us with questions not only about Turkey, but about the fate of global democracy. A superb and tremendously compelling book.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e--Phil Klay, National Book Award\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e-winning\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eauthor of \u003ci\u003eUncertain Ground: Citizenship in an Age of Endless, Invisible War\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"No modern history of Turkey, told through the complex lives and perspectives of its inhabitants, could be more compelling than Suzy Hansen's. In it, she traces not only a nation in all of its specificity, but also the essential elements of the rise of autocracy.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e--Eliza Griswold, Pulitzer Prize\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e-winning author of \u003ci\u003eCircle of Hope \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eAmity and Prosperity\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"In \n\u003ci\u003eFrom Life Itself\u003c\/i\u003e, Suzy Hansen does something extraordinary: she plants herself in a single Istanbul neighborhood for a decade and watches democracy unravel. This is journalism at its most courageous and intimate. The front line of history is right outside your door--this book shows you how to see it.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e--Maria Ressa, Nobel Peace Prize\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e-winning journalist\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"A captivating consideration of Turkey as a truly 'post-Western' nation charting its own course in a globalized world.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Continuously elegant and intellectually conscientious, \n\u003ci\u003e From Life Itself\u003c\/i\u003e sets a new standard in literary journalism. Its portrait of a crisis-ridden Turkey is gripping in itself. However, Suzy Hansen is able to diagnose a global unraveling by abandoning the assumptions and expectations of Western journalism that posited a clear division between 'us' and 'them, ' achievers and stragglers. While ostensibly writing about a 'foreign' society, she bracingly enables us to understand our own.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e--Pankaj Mishra, author of \u003ci\u003eThe World After Gaza \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eBland Fanatics\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\" \n\u003ci\u003eFrom Life Itself \u003c\/i\u003eis an engrossing, illuminating account of modern Turkey told through the prism of an Istanbul neighborhood and the lives that animate it. In deeply researched, engaging prose, Hansen interlaces the district's changing fortunes with Turkey's national metamorphosis and the rise of Erdoğan. A sweeping, intimate, and authoritative portrait of a crucial state at the crossroads of Europe and the Middle East.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e--Rania Abouzeid, author of \u003ci\u003eNo Turning Back: Life, Loss, and Hope in Wartime Syria\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Kaleidoscopic. Suzy Hansen makes sense of Erdoğan's rule, showing how the autocrat's remaking of Turkey is mirrored in the lives of ordinary citizens, but also how global and regional forces have determined the country's fate. Hansen's affectionate portrayals of the inhabitants of an Istanbul neighborhood make clear that we shouldn't write Turkey and its democratic prospects off.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e--\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eHalil Karaveli, author of \u003ci\u003eWhy Turkey is Authoritarian: From Atatürk to Erdoğan\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher Marketing\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Rich and complex . . . [A] beautifully observant book.\" --Jennifer Szalai, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e\"A dizzying tour de force . . . \u003ci\u003eFrom Life Itself\u003c\/i\u003e leaves the reader with a sense of wonder.\" --Elif Batuman, author of \u003ci\u003eEither\/Or \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Idiot\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOne neighborhood in Istanbul: a window on a city, country, region, and world in a state of upheaval. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eKaragümrük, an Istanbul neighborhood once dominated by Ottoman-era homes, is now known for petty thieves, cheap apartment blocks, and an influx of Syrian refugees. It's here that Suzy Hansen went looking for the truth behind the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's authoritarian turn, a catastrophic regional war, and an accelerating geopolitical crisis. She asks: Was Turkey a harbinger of what would soon arise in other countries, the resurgence of authoritarianism? Or do the lives in this neighborhood, and the transformations of Erdoğan's Turkey, reveal a more complex story? \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDuring a decade spent reporting from Karagümrük, Hansen discovered the neighborhood's secrets and got to know some of its people: Ismail, the longtime muhtar, or neighborhood councilman; Huseyin, a loyalist in Erdoğan's Islamic nationalist AK Party; and Ebru, a real estate agent and mother with ambitions to unseat Ismail. Through these local perspectives, Hansen connects the events unfolding in Karagümrük to the forces roiling Turkey, the Middle East, and the world, capturing the sweep of the last ten years in microcosm. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrom the author of the acclaimed Pulitzer Prize finalist \n\u003ci\u003eNotes on a Foreign Country\u003c\/i\u003e, \n\u003ci\u003eFrom Life Itself \u003c\/i\u003eis a story for a world out of joint. An absorbing account of one neighborhood in Istanbul that has seen profound change, it offers lessons for all of us who feel the pressure of the disorienting global forces remaking our lives. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations:\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eBooklist\u003c\/span\u003e 02\/01\/2026 (EAN 9780374298432, Hardcover) - *Starred Review\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/span\u003e 02\/23\/2026 (EAN 9780374298432, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/span\u003e 03\/15\/2026 (EAN 9780374298432, Hardcover) - *Starred Review\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eContributor Bio:\u003c\/strong\u003eHansen, Suzy\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eSuzy Hansen\u003c\/b\u003e lived in Istanbul for more than a decade, where she was a contributing writer for \n\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e and many other publications. Her first book, \n\u003ci\u003eNotes on a Foreign Country\u003c\/i\u003e, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Nonfiction and the winner of the Overseas Press Club of America's Cornelius Ryan Award. She has taught writing at Princeton University, New York University, and Bard College.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n","brand":"Farrar, Straus and Giroux","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51496120942870,"sku":"9780374298432","price":36.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0857\/9910\/8886\/files\/9780374298432.jpg?v=1783053493","url":"https:\/\/lusper.myshopify.com\/products\/from-life-itself-turkey-istanbul-and-a-neighborhood-in-the-age-of-erdogan","provider":"Lusperbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}