'Surely definitive ... I enjoyed every page and recommend this book highly' -- Simon Sebag Montifiore, Mail on Sunday 'A fluent, thorough and enjoyable biography, which for comprehensiveness, balance and deftness of touch outclasses all the alternatives for the English reader' -- Mark Mazower, New Statesman 'The best concise account I have ever seen of the decline of the Ottoman Empire. The narrative is gripping. It does not merely present all the facts of Ataturk's career but paints a credible picture of the whole man' -- Geoffrey Lewis 'The profundity of Mango's analysis and his empathy with the years of national regeneration lift Ataturk to a higher level of biography than any previous account' -- Alan Palmer, Literary Review 'Takes its place at the top' -- Norman Stone, Sunday Times

Andrew Mango was born in Istanbul. He complemented his knowledge of Turkish by studying Persian and Arabic at the School of Oriental Studies in London. From 1947 to 1986 he worked at the BBC, retiring as Head of South European and French Language Services. He has since been engaged full-time in the study of Turkish affairs. His next book, The Turks Today, will be published by John Murray in autumn 2004.