Known as "the Pearl of the Mediterranean," Izmir invokes a city and
countryside blessed with good fortune; it is known to many as the
homeland of Ephesus, Bergama, and Sardis. Yet, Turkey's third
largest city has an especially vexed past. The Greek pursuit of the
Megali Idea leveraged Classical history for 19th century political
gains, and in so doing also foreshadowed the "Asia Minor
Catastrophe." Princeton University's work at Sardis played into the
duplicitous agendas of western archaeologists, learned societies,
and diplomats seeking to structure heritage policy and
international regulations in their favor, from the 1919 Paris Peace
Conference to the League of Nations. A Pearl in Peril reveals the
voices of those on the ground. It also explores how Howard Crosby
Butler, William Hepburn Buckler, and William Berry penetrated the
inner circle of world leaders, including Woodrow Wilson, Lloyd
George, and Eleftherios Venizelos. On the smoldering ashes of
Anatolia's scorched earth, foreign intervention continued apace
with plans for large-scale development. A Pearl in Peril tackles
the untold story of Julian Huxley's admiration of the US Tennessee
Valley Authority's "principals of persuasion" in the context of the
industrial landscapes and pursuit of modernity in the Aegean. The
promise of UNESCO, too, brought diplomacy dollars deployed to
foster "mutual understanding" through preservation programs at
Sardis. Yet, from this same pot of money came support for "open
intelligence" at the international fairs held in Izmir's
Kulturpark, a turnkey battleground of the Cold War. Ironically, it
was UNESCO's colossal Abu Simbel project in Egypt that led the US
to abandon their preservation initiatives in Turkey. Five decades
on, groves of organic olives, marble quarries and gold mines not
only threaten the erasure of sacred landscapes, but also ensure the
livelihood of local communities. Ultimately, A Pearl in Peril
offers a bold assessment of diplomatic practice, perspectives of
contemporary heritage, and the challenges of unprecedented
expansion of city and countryside.
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