In this extraordinary literary debut, Christie-Miller traces the
history and present of Istanbul by walking along its crumbling
defensive walls and talking to those he passes. Caught between two
seas and two continents, with a contested past and an imperiled
future, Istanbul represents the precipitous moment civilizations
around the world are currently facing. To the City seamlessly
blends two narratives: the fragile optimism of the present-day and
its inhabitants, and the story of Mehmet’s siege and capture of
the city in 1453. Those events still loom over the city, as
Erdogan—a kind of latter-day sultan—invokes their memory as
part of his effort to transform Turkey and resurrect its imperial
past. Istanbul stands at the centre of the most pressing challenges
of our time. Environmental decay, rapacious development and a
refugee crisis are straining the city to breaking point, while its
civil society gutters in the face of resurgent authoritarianism.
Yet, Istanbul has endured despite centuries of instability.
Christie-Miller introduces us to people who are experiencing the
looming crisis and fighting back, sometimes triumphing despite the
odds. This is a meditation on the soul of Istanbul, of its
resilience and fortitude. In the defensive walls of Turkey’s
largest and most fabled city, Christie-Miller finds a distillation
of the country’s history and a mirror of its present. Walk with
him and see the danger, beauty and hope.
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