It was Gizem's dad who recommended Patrick Kinross' biography of Atatürk to me. I found it compelling, even though this critique by David Fromkin describes "Rebirth of a Nation" as "an uncritical "official" account." There's plenty to dislike about Atatürk the man. Such is discussed in a new biography by Andrew Mango (2000), as described in the aforementioned critique: "It reveals the long suppressed darker aspects of its subject, showing us a far more complex personality than we had seen before. Curiously, however, the main lines of Kemal’s policy and accomplishments emerge as having been much the same as we had believed them to be in the past."
I did not meet a single Turk who had anything bad to say about him, despite the tricks he pulled on them to drag them away from a religious to a secular government. (Granted, I only spent significant time with one devoutly Muslim family, who described themselves - passionately! - as "moderates" who hate Hezbullah, asserting that their version of Islam is "based on lies.")
