03053nam a2200325 i 4500 OSt 20260121104226.0 260113t20242024enkabf er 001 0 eng d 9780008416058 paperback RM 109.95 PPAK eng PPAK rda 949.618 23 949.618 CHR G Christie-Miller, Alexander, author. TO THE CITY : Life and Death Along the Ancient Walls of Istanbul / Alexander Christie-Miller ; Illustrations by Joe McLaren London : William Collins, 2024 ©2024 xii, 396 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, photographs (some color), maps ; 24 cm text rdacontent cartographic image rdacontent unmediated rdamedia volume rdacarrier Includes bibliographical references (pages 378-386) and index Part I: Dreams -- The tanner's gate -- The buried gate -- The gate of saints -- The cannon gate -- The gate of the riven tower -- The golden gate -- The gate of the dervish lodge -- The gate of martyrs -- Part II: Omens -- The prophesied gate -- The cannon gate -- The gate of the spring -- The rebuilt gate -- The crooked gate -- The gate of plagues -- The marble tower "In this extraordinary literary debut, Christie-Miller traces the history and present of Istanbul by walking along its crumbling defensive walls and talking to those he passes. Caught between two seas and two continents, with a contested past and an imperiled future, Istanbul represents the precipitous moment civilizations around the world are currently facing. To the City seamlessly blends two narratives: the fragile optimism of the present-day and its inhabitants, and the story of Mehmet's siege and capture of the city in 1453. Those events still loom over the city, as Erdoğan -- a kind of latter-day sultan -- invokes their memory as part of his effort to transform Turkey and resurrect its imperial past. Istanbul stands at the centre of the most pressing challenges of our time. Environmental decay, rapacious development and a refugee crisis are straining the city to breaking point, while its civil society gutters in the face of resurgent authoritarianism. Yet, Istanbul has endured despite centuries of instability. Christie-Miller introduces us to people who are experiencing the looming crisis and fighting back, sometimes triumphing despite the odds. This is a meditation on the soul of Istanbul, of its resilience and fortitude. In the defensive walls of Turkey's largest and most fabled city, Christie-Miller finds a distillation of the country's history and a mirror of its present. Walk with him and see the danger, beauty and hope." -- Provided by publisher Istanbul (Turkey) History Informational works Documents information McLaren, Joe, illustrator. ddc B 202706 202706 0 0 PPAK G 2026-01-21 0 949.618 CHR A01900612 2026-01-21 14:06:54 B 0 0 SP G 2026-01-21 0 949.618 CHR A01900613 2026-01-21 14:06:54 B 0 0 KM G 2026-01-21 0 949.618 CHR A01900614 2026-01-21 14:06:54 B