Finkel, Caroline

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Finkel, Caroline
(Caroline Fiona Finkel)

PERSONAL:

Born in Scotland; married Andrew Finkel (a journalist and writer); children: one daughter. Education: University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies, Ph.D.

ADDRESSES:

Home—London, England, and Istanbul, Turkey.Agent—c/o Author Mail, Basic Books, 387 Park Ave. S., New York, NY 10016. E-mail—carolinefinkel@yahoo.co.uk.

CAREER:

Writer and Historian. Imperial College of Science and Technology at London University, research assistant in the Seismology Section of the Department of Engineering, 1985—. Served as an expert witness inQatar v. Bahrain: Maritime and Territorial Delimitation Questions between Qatar and Bahrain, before the International Court of Justice, The Hague, Netherlands.

Previously worked as a banker, wildlife sound recordist, and carpet seller.

WRITINGS:

NONFICTION

The Administration of Warfare: The Ottoman Military Campaigns in Hungary, 1593-1606, VWGO (Vienna, Austria), 1988.

(With N.N. Ambraseys) The Seismicity of Turkey and Adjacent Areas: A Historical Review, 1500-1800, M.S. Eren (Istanbul, Turkey), 1995.

Osman's Dream: The Story of theOttoman Empire, 1300-1923, John Murray (London, England), 2005, Basic Books (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor to periodicals including Cornucopia and Times Literary Supplement.Contributor to anthologies including Reorienting the Renaissance: Cultural Exchanges with the East, edited by Gerald MacLean, Palgrave MacMillan (New York, NY), 2005.

The author's work has been translated into Greek, Russian, and Turkish.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

Contribution to Crossing the Divide: Continuity and Change in Late Medieval and Early Modern Warfare, which will examine changes in warfare in Europe between 1350 and 1750.

SIDELIGHTS:

Writer and historian Caroline Finkel, though born and raised in Scotland, developed an early academic interest in the history of theOttoman Empire, eventually becoming so enthralled that she made Istanbul, Turkey, a second home. Finkel did her doctoral research on the military history of the Ottomans, a study that she eventually, in 1988, developed into the book The Administration of Warfare: The Ottoman Military Campaigns in Hungary, 1593-1606. In 1995 she collaborated with N.N. Ambraseys to write The Seismicity of Turkey and Adjacent Areas: A Historical Review, 1500-1800, a catalog of every significant incidence of seismic activity occurring between 1500 and 1800 within the modern-day boundaries of Turkey.

Osman's Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1923, which Finkel released in 2005, tells the history of the Ottoman Empire written in a style meant to be accessible to the everyday reader as well as to scholars. It begins with the story of Osman, the empire's first sultan, who dreamt of a large tree growing from his middle, shading the world—a symbol that a holy man consulted by Osman took to represent the ultimate spread of the massive empire the sultan was to create. From this start, Finkel follows the story of the Ottomans through the empire's bloody end in World War I, including such events as succession to the throne, which often involved fratricide to ensure one's place as sultan, and the Armenian massacres during the first World War, which are commonly thought of as one of the major genocides of the twentieth century. National Review critic John Wilson felt that Finkel shows "no sense of pace" in the writing of Osman's Dream, showing a lack of writing skill and causing difficulty in assimilating the material; despite this, however, he called the book "valuable as a kind of reconnaissance," observing that "every interested reader … should wade through" the book, if only to better acquaint themselves with the history. Brendan Driscoll, in aBooklist review, pointed out that study of the Ottoman Empire has long been neglected. Commenting on the book's "superb" nature, Driscoll points out that Finkel "boldly covers new ground" by showing a more complete history of the Empire than has been previously presented. A contributor to theEconomist disagreed, however, noting that Finkel's knowledge "could have been put to better use" by giving more specific details of events rather than a survey of every event throughout the history. A Kirkus Reviews critic foundOsman's Dream "a satisfying blend of narrative history, anecdote and character study," while a reviewer forPublishers Weekly called it "a riveting and enjoyable read for all."