When Mustafa Kemal Ataturk became the first president of Turkey in 1923, he set about transforming his country into a secular republic where nationalism sanctified by science--and by the personality cult Ataturk created around himself--would reign supreme as the new religion. This book provides the first in-depth look at the intellectual life of th

Shedding light on one of the most complex and enigmatic statesmen of the modern era, M. Sükrü Hanioglu takes readers from Atatürk's youth as a Muslim boy in the volatile ethnic cauldron of Macedonia, to his education in nonreligious and military schools, to his embrace of Turkish nationalism and the modernizing Young Turks movement. Who was this figure who sought glory as an ambitious young officer in World War I, defied the victorious Allies intent on partitioning the Turkish heartland, and defeated the last sultan? Hanioglu charts Atatürk's intellectual and ideological development at every stage of his life, demonstrating how he was profoundly influenced by the new ideas that were circulating in the sprawling Ottoman realm. He shows how Atatürk drew on a unique mix of scientism, materialism, social Darwinism, positivism, and other theories to fashion a grand utopian framework on which to build his new nation.

"One cannot understand what is happening in Turkey nowadays without taking an in-depth look at the life of the founder of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. In this revised paperback edition of Atatürk: An Intellectual Biography, S?ükrü Haniog?lu attempts to demystify Atatürk and reassess his historical role and the impact of his legacy on modern Turkey."---Lisa Kaaki, Arab News