Drawing on a wealth of rare archival material, Turnaoğlu presents the first complete history of republican thinking in Turkey from the birth of the Ottoman state to the founding of the modern republic. She shows how the Kemalists wrote Turkish history from their own perspective, presenting their own version of republicanism as inevitable while disregarding the contributions of competing visions. Turnaoğlu demonstrates how republicanism has roots outside the Western political experience, broadening our understanding of intellectual history. She reveals how the current crises in Turkish politics—including the Kurdish Question, democratic instability, the rise of radical Islam, and right-wing Turkish nationalism—arise from intellectual tensions left unresolved by Kemalist ideology.

Shaping the Empire -- The age of transformation in Ottoman political thought : the reigns of Selim III (r. 1789-1808) and Mahmud II (r. 1808-39) -- The Tanzimat era and the republicanism of the Young Ottomans -- The positivist universalism and republicanism of the Young Turks -- The political thought of the Young Turk Revolution Political thought in the Balkan Wars : the rise of authoritarianism, militarism, and nationalism -- Ottoman political thought during World War I -- The War of Independence (1919-22) : road to the Independent Turkish Republic -- The victory of radical republicanism -- The ideology of the early republic.