Salonica, City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims and Jews, 1430-1950The history of a rarely written about, bewilderingly exotic city: 500 years of clashing cultures and peoples, from the glories of Suleiman the Magnificent to its nadir under Nazi occupation. Salonica is the point where the wonders and horrors of the Orient and Europe have met over the centuries. Written with a Pepysian sense of the texture of daily life in the city through the ages, and with breathtakingly detailed historical research, Salonica will evoke the sights, smells, habits, songs and responses of a unique city and its inhabitants. The history of Salonica is one of forgotten alternatives and wrong choices, of identities assumed and discarded. For centuries Muslims, Christians, and Jews have succeeded each other in ascendancy, each people intent on erasing the presence of their predecessors, and the result is a city of cultural traditions and memories of extreme violence and genocide, one that sits on the overlapping hinterlands of both Europe and the East. |
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Page 90
Suleyman the Magnificent built the White Tower at the end of the sea - wall , and another tower , now vanished , on the ... like the ' mouths of great lions ' – at key points , and a new fortress between the harbour and the land walls .
Suleyman the Magnificent built the White Tower at the end of the sea - wall , and another tower , now vanished , on the ... like the ' mouths of great lions ' – at key points , and a new fortress between the harbour and the land walls .
Page 208
The minarets and cypresses rising above the walls were what first struck visitors . The city is still entirely girded by its walls . The eastern walls in the early twentieth century . At. The sea approach from the south - east .
The minarets and cypresses rising above the walls were what first struck visitors . The city is still entirely girded by its walls . The eastern walls in the early twentieth century . At. The sea approach from the south - east .
Page 239
His strategy for Salonica was very similar – to open it up by demolishing stretches of the walls and extending its commercial and harbour facilities . Up to then , the old sea - wall had stood as a barrier to the outside world .
His strategy for Salonica was very similar – to open it up by demolishing stretches of the walls and extending its commercial and harbour facilities . Up to then , the old sea - wall had stood as a barrier to the outside world .
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User Review - vguy - LibraryThingThe perfect book to read on first visit to 'thessaloniki. Unfolds the many layers of this extraordinary "border town", and how the complexity got shaved away over the course of the 20th century by ... Read full review
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User Review - TrgLlyLibrarian - LibraryThingI learned a lot from this book, and I admire Mazower's ability to form such a complete account of Salonica. Read full review
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Bibliographic information
| Title | Salonica, City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims and Jews, 1430-1950 |
| Author | Mark Mazower |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | HarperCollins, 2004 |
| Original from | the University of Michigan |
| Digitized | 25 Jun 2008 |
| ISBN | 0007120230, 9780007120239 |
| Length | 525 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |