An English Kemalist in Anatolia, 1922

'An Englishwoman in Angora' by Grace Ellison (Cambridge University Press, 344 pages, $38)

The name Grace Ellison has almost entirely fallen from the historical record. A journalist by profession, Ellison published a series of books on Ottoman and Turkish society that are today little more than historical curios. But as the world commemorates the 100th anniversary of the First World War, Cambridge University Press has decided to reissue her account of a journey from ?zmir to Ankara in the aftermath of the conflict, in the midst of Turkey's War of Independence. Terribly dated, and full of exuberant Turkophilia that borders on propaganda, the book's shortcomings are precisely what make it a fascinating relic.

To describe Ellison as intrepid really wouldn't be doing her justice - it was more than a little perilous to be an Englishwoman in Anatolia when she made her trip in 1922. After defeating the Ottoman Empire in the war, occupying Constantinople, and supporting the Hellenic invasion of Anatolia, the British were persona non grata in Turkey. Hardly anyone Ellison meets can believe that she is making the journey solo, and many advise her to pretend she is American for her own safety. "God forbid," she responds in horror, even insisting on carrying a Union Flag around with her out of loyalty to the British Empire. The obvious contradiction between the patriot and the ardent Turkophile continues throughout the book, and Ellison spends pages wringing her hands about Britain's "terrible and tragic bungling," bemoaning how its policy toward Turkey has gone "woefully and willfully astray." As she tells the governor in ?zmir at one point, atoning for British misdeeds is part of the motivation behind her trip: "the Turks shall see that one Englishwoman can...