This volume is the final instalment of The Cambridge History of Turkey, which began with Volume 3: The Later Ottoman Empire, 1603–1839 (Cambridge, 2006), a ground-breaking piece of scholarship on what was a much-neglected period of Ottoman history. The only volume actually to focus on Turkey was Volume 4: Turkey in the Modern World (Cambridge, 2008), which also gave valuable assessments of the Tanzimat, Hamidian, and Young Turk periods. This was followed by Volume 1: Byzantium to Turkey, 1071–1453 (Cambridge, 2009), exploring the complex worlds of the various polities in Anatolia and the Balkans from and among which the Ottoman Empire developed. On the whole, the series has reflected the vibrancy and variety of contemporary Ottoman studies through articles representing the latest research of both established and up-and-coming scholars.

As Suraiya Faroqhi observes in her wide-ranging and stimulating introduction to this new volume, it seems apt that the series should end by tackling the “Classical” period of Ottoman history (p. 1), often viewed as a “golden age”. With Süleyman I (r. 1520–66) one of the most popular characters on prime-time television in Turkey, the Balkans, and the Arab world, and a new bridge over the Bosphorus to be named after his father Selim I (r. 1512–20), this often romanticized “Magnificent Century” clearly holds contemporary meaning. Yet in avoiding the idealized depictions of the period that once dominated historical writing, there is a fine balance to be struck between what Palmira Brummett called the mundane and the thrilling (p. 73).

This volume is divided into three thematic sections, and Part 1 examines the expanding empire. Such conquest-focused accounts once anthropomorphized the Ottoman state to a precocious and violent adolescence in Mehmed II (r. 1444–46, 1451–81) and Selim I, the virulent and mature adulthood of Süleyman I, and an early decline into impotence and senility from Selim II (r. 1566–74) onwards. However, this section presents an accessible introduction to the more subtle and nuanced narratives that have since developed.

After Kate Fleet's overview of the political history, Palmira Brummett provides one of the volume's gems with her analysis of Ottoman expansion in Europe. Professor Brummett discusses the various conflicts and alliances with the European states in the Balkans, and also conveys a convincing and thought-provoking analysis and critique of Ottoman expansion through its ideological facets and historiographical implications. Ebru Boyar's study on Ottoman–Safavid relations in the context of Ottoman rule in Anatolia offers a useful overview that will complement recent reassessments in Safavid studies. Moving to the importance of the sea in the development of the Ottoman Empire, Kate Fleet's chapter on the Mediterranean provides a helpful summary of the state of play in the sixteenth-century Levant and North Africa. Finally, this section moves down a path less trodden with Salih Özbaran's chapter on Ottoman expansion in the Red Sea. Professor Özbaran's work highlights the need for more research into and scholarly engagement with the Ottoman presence in East Africa, Southern Arabia, and the Indian Ocean in this period, and more detailed studies in conjunction with scholars of South and South-East Asia into commercial relations.

Part 2 takes on the complexities of Ottoman government, economic life and society. Colin Imber's study of government, administration and law highlights the adaptability of Ottoman state institutions, examining the role of the sultan, the functions of state institutions and the development of the legal system. This chapter provides an effective overview of these central issues, notably in Professor Imber's revisiting of his work on Meḥmed Ebü's-suʿūd Efendi and the interplay between Ḥanafī fiqh and Ottoman ḳānūn. Turning to the crucial and much-debated question of the relationship between the state and the economy, Murat Çizakça's examination of taxation, public finance and trade regulation focuses on the importance of defining and assessing the Ottoman economy within the immediate political context and the longue durée. Moving to military institutions and logistics, Géza Dávid provides a rich overview centred on the Hungarian frontier, with particular care given to historiography and sources. In one of the volume's most engaging chapters, Gilles Veinstein describes religious institutions and their role in state legitimation, including a welcome discussion of heterodoxy in the context of Ottoman–Safavid relations, and the role of Sufi orders in the Ottoman realms. Finally, Faroqhi examines the fundamental subject of population, exploring the nature and limitations of the sources, the implications of environment and ecology, the significance of migration and the role of nomadic peoples.

Part 3, discussing culture and the arts, is one of the volume's triumphs. Gottfried Hagen's chapter on intellectual life gives an illuminating and enjoyable overview of Ottoman learning and thought in this period, encompassing a range of intellectual pursuits in science, history and cosmology, among others. No less engaging is Çiğdem Kafescioğlu's assessment of the visual arts, helpfully illustrated with thirty-seven figures, which examines and deftly contextualizes trends in architecture and urban space, calligraphy, painting and other artistic productions. Finally, Selim Kuru provides a thoughtful analysis of the development of Ottoman literary cultures, with particularly fascinating sections on lyric poetry and commentaries.

With helpful maps, a chronology and glossary, and a superbly detailed bibliography of primary sources and secondary literature, this volume does not disappoint in terms of its overall quality. The introduction might have set out the volume's content and aims more clearly (this was left to Fleet's first chapter), and doubtless, some of the positions presented will generate discussion. This is a good thing, however, as such a volume cannot and should not be considered as definitive or comprehensive. Rather, its chapters provide a fairly indicative snapshot of the current state of scholarship on the Ottoman long sixteenth century without getting lost in the details of the mundane or swept away by the dramas of the thrilling. Above all, this study presents, warts and all, a dynamic and expanding field that continues to raise and seeks to answer important historical and historiographical questions. As an accessible (if unaffordable) reference text this volume will be of great use for many years to come.