Publisher's Synopsis
This seminal book looks at the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century as it was on the verge of demise in World War I. From the preface: "Late one night at the beginning of the year 1909, while I was absorbed in the repulsive task of correcting proofs, the telephone bell at my side rang with sudden sharpness; then came a voice from Printing House Square, and the query was- " Will you go to Persia for us ? " Things were moving in the country of the Shah, and a quick affirmative seemed the obvious answer. But was it possible to leave all these heaps of trash that meant a book on the stocks ? I temporised- " When do you want me to go ? " The voice gave me no time to think; it spluttered into my ear- " Immediately." Then all at once it seemed as if the only thing in life worth having was to be loosed where the world was stirring. I looked no more at the rubbish heaps, but murmured-softly, that the precious words might not be lost- " Will the day after to-morrow do ? " And so it came to pass that forty hours later I was crossing the Channel, bound for the Orient by way of St Petersburg. It was, therefore, as Special Correspondent to 'The Times' that I revisited Persia and spent the stormy year of 1909 in Teheran; and subsequently travelled to the Persian Gulf, then up through Mesopotamia, and across the track of my previous journey, to Syria, halting thereafter, on my way homeward, at many of the principal towns in Turkey. With the kind permission of 'The Times, ' these opportunities I have now utilised in this endeavour to sketch the more prominent features of Persian and Turkish affairs as they appear in Constitutional days."
