Paradise Lost

By Giles Milton,

Book cover of Paradise Lost: The Destruction of Islam's City of Tolerance

Book description

On Saturday 9th September, 1922, the victorious Turkish cavalry rode into Smyrna, the richest and most cosmopolitan city in the Ottoman Empire. What happened over the next two weeks must rank as one of the most compelling human dramas of the twentieth century. Almost two million people were caught up…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Paradise Lost as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

The history books I most enjoy are those that tell me about events of which I knew little or nothing, and want to learn more.

One such event was the fall of Smyrna (now Izmir) in western Turkey in 1922. As the Ottoman Empire collapsed at the end of World War I, Greek troops occupied the multicultural city of Smyrna. After three years, Turkish nationalist forces led by Kemal Ataturk forces re-entered the city, setting its buildings on fire and killing up to 100,000 of its Greek, Armenian, and other inhabitants in an act of what is now called ethnic…

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