The Endless Country: A Personal Journey Through Turkey's First Hundred Years

穿梭土耳其歷史
品味層層交織的人物與故事

《無盡之國》(暫譯)帶領讀者穿梭於土耳其的過去——這片作者父親數十年前離開，而他在年輕時重返的國度。

這不是一本關於厄多安或阿塔圖克——這兩位宛如土耳其歷史書兩端的巨人——的書。相反，薩米．肯特（Sami Kent）深入挖掘，揭露了一段如同他家最愛甜點庫內費（künefe）般層層交織、豐富又荒誕的歷史：麵線外層包裹融化起司、撒上開心果、再澆滿糖漿的奇妙組合。

從迷你舉重選手到世界最大的監獄，從失敗的社會主義公社到大獲成功的蘭花冰淇淋，這本書是對土耳其過去錯綜複雜、多元多樣的人民、思想與奮鬥的一曲讚歌。

「這才是歷史應該被講述的方式——人性化、有趣、鮮活。」
——《每日電訊報》

「引人入勝。肯特輕鬆地將深植於他內心的旅行，編織成一幅土耳其過去與現在的宏大畫卷。」
——米莎爾．侯賽因（Mishal Husain）

「一本豐富、令人著迷的書：充滿人物、故事、歷史、色彩與生命力……每一頁都鮮活跳動。」
——尼爾．穆克吉（Neel Mukherjee，《他人的生命》布克獎入圍作者）

Captivating. Kent effortlessly weaves travels that are close to his heart into a bigger story of Turkey’s past and present' – Mishal Husain
'A rich, spellbinding book: dense with people, stories, history, colour, lived experience . . . The book is alive on every page' – Neel Mukherjee, Booker Prize-shortlisted author of The Lives of Others

The Endless Country takes a journey through Turkey’s past – the nation the author’s father left decades ago and he returns to as a young man.

It is not about Erdogan or Atatürk, the two towering Presidents who have book-ended that history, and at times have appeared impossible to escape. Instead Sami Kent’s book goes deep beyond them, revealing a history as rich, layered and absurd as his family’s favourite dessert, künefe: a shredded wheat pastry with a core of melted cheese, a topping of pistachios, and a drowning of syrup.

From tiny weightlifters to the world’s biggest prison, from a failed socialist commune to a wildly successful orchid ice cream, the book is a tribute to the sheer bewildering diversity of Turkey’s past: its people, their ideas and their struggles.

'This is surely how history should be told – human, fun, alive' – The Telegraph