From Life Itself: Turkey and Istanbul in the Age of Erdogan  Release Date -  07 May 2026

'A gripping portrait of a crisis-ridden Turkey' PANKAJ MISHRA

'A richly textured human history .. elegantly maps out Turkey's hard-right turn' THE NEW YORK TIMES

'An ambitious, alive and lovingly written portrait of everyday life' GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE DAY

Pulitzer finalist Suzy Hansen chronicles the age of authoritarianism in Turkey - through an intimate portrait of its people

In the midst of a world in upheaval, Erdogan has remade Turkey in his own image. Once a shining portal that straddled East and West, Istanbul's streets now teem with nationalistic fervour, political repression and rampant corruption. And it's here, in the old Ottoman neighbourhood of Karagumruk, that Suzy Hansen goes looking for the truth about modern Turkey.

Through the lives of its inhabitants, Hansen shows how local conflicts are spiralling into regional crises, deepening the fault lines now fracturing Europe and the Middle East. A dazzling account of a nation on the frontlines of history, From Life Itself chronicles the rise of an autocrat, the resurrection of an empire - and the human stories unfolding in its shadow.

'A dizzying tour de force that leaves the reader with a sense of wonder' ELIF BATUMAN