turkey

Recounts how a timid shepherd becomes a hero.

Reports on conditions in Turkey at the beginning of the twenty-first century, looking at the country's potential to become a world leader, and examining the factors that could keep that from happening.

The story of Frederick Bruce Thomas, born in 1872 to former slaves who became prosperous farmers in Mississippi. A rich white planter's attempt to steal their land forced them to flee to Memphis, where Frederick's father was brutally murdered. After leaving the South and working as a waiter and valet in Chicago and Brooklyn, Frederick sought greater freedom in London, then crisscrossed Europe, and-- in a highly unusual choice for a Black American at the time-- went to Russia in 1899. Because he found no color line there, Frederick made Moscow his home. He renamed himself Fyodor Fyodorovich Tomas, married twice, acquired a mistress, and took Russian citizenship. Through his hard work, charm, and guile he became one of the city's richest and most famous owners of variety theaters and restaurants. The Bolshevik Revolution ruined him, and he barely escaped with his life and family to Constantinople in 1919. Starting from scratch, he made a second fortune by opening celebrated nightclubs that introduced jazz to Turkey. However, the long arm of American racism, the xenophobia of the new Turkish Republic, and Frederick's own extravagance landed him in debtor's prison. He died in Constantinople in 1928.

Brother Sempad and Yerwant Arslanian are joyfully preparing for a reunion after forty years apart when World War I erupts, trapping Yerwant in Italy, and leaving Sempad's Armenian family at the mercy of the genocidal Young Turks.

A collection of tales about the folk hero Nasreddin Hoca, as he appears in the legends of Turkey.

TURKISH FAIRY TALE.

Outside the city of Troy, Prince Hektor leads his Trojan cavalry in daring raids against the forces of Achilles, while Helikaon battles the Mykene navy at sea in his quest for vengeance against King Agamemnon, whose troops killed Helikaon's wife.