The Circassian: A Life of Esref Bey, Late Ottoman Insurgent and Special Agent

Esref Kuscubasi is still controversial in Turkey, over 50 years after his death. He is sometimes called "The Turkish Lawrence of Arabia", his life offers insights into the traumatic and increasingly violent struggle that ended the Ottoman Empire and ushered in the modern Middle East. Esref had worked on special assignments for Enver Pasha; in the World War he was captured by the forces of the Arab Revolt, and was turned over to the British. He was imprisoned in Malta until 1920. when he joined the National Movement in Anatolia, but he eventually fell out with Mustafa Kemal and then switched sides. Thus this book is very germane to the story of the development of the Middle East we know today.