Adam McConnel

Yeşim Bayar’s Formation of the Turkish Nation-State, 1920-1938, an adaptation of the author’s doctoral dissertation, is a strong introduction to several topics that dominated official Turkish thought in the 1920s and 1930s. Even though the book’s title suggests a comprehensive analysis, Bayar focuses on three primary issues: language, education, and citizenship. All three are discussed in relation to the manner in which the early Turkish Republic’s elites employed them in order to mold their new society. The author’s essential aim is to situate the Turkish experience in the literature on nationalism and nation-state formation.