When the Ottoman Empire collapsed, so many spies mingled in the lobby of Istanbul's Pera Palace Hotel that the manager put up a sign asking them to relinquish seats to paying guests.
As the multi-ethnic empire became a Turkish republic, Russian emigres sold family heirlooms, an African American impresario founded a jazz club and Miss Turkey became the first Muslim beauty queen. Turkey's president Kemal Ataturk, Muslim feminist Halide Edip, the exiled Leon Trotsky and the future Pope John XXIII fought for new visions of human freedom. During the Second World War, German intellectuals ran from the Nazis while Jewish activists spirited refugees out of occupied Europe. This pioneering portrait of urban reinvention re-creates an era when an ancient city became a global crossroads-a moment when Europe's closest Muslim metropolis became its vital port of refuge.
- ISBN10 0393089142
- ISBN13 9780393089141
- Publish Date 14 November 2014 (first published 15 September 2014)
- Publish Status Inactive
- Out of Print 15 January 2016
- Publish Country US
- Imprint WW Norton & Co
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 480
- Language English