Book Review: Crossing the Aegean — The 1923 Greece-Turkey Exchange
This book review examines Renee Hirschon's edited volume Crossing the Aegean: An Appraisal of the 1923 Compulsory Population Exchange Between Greece and Turkey (Berghahn/Oxford University Press, 2003), part of the Studies in Forced Migration series. The review surveys the book's three core sections, which address the historical background of the Lausanne Convention, the political and economic consequences of the exchange for both nations, and the social and cultural impacts on Greek and Turkish identity. The reviewer highlights the collection's interdisciplinary breadth, its nuanced treatment of nationalism, and its relevance to ongoing scholarly discussions about forced migration, international law, and collective identity in the Aegean and Balkan regions.
- Overview and Structure of the Volume: Editorial organization, series context, and section breakdown
- The Lausanne Convention and International Context: Nationalism, international law, and domestic policy consequences
- Economic Consequences of the Population Exchange: Greek and Balkan economic disruption from mass refugee influx
- Social, Cultural, and Identity Impacts: Literature, religion, and identity formation in Greece and Turkey
- Significance and Interdisciplinary Relevance: Lasting relevance across academic disciplines and regions
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What makes this paper effective
- The review follows the book's own structure closely, giving readers a clear map of each section before offering evaluative commentary.
- It consistently connects the book's specific chapters to broader themes — nationalism, international law, economic disruption — without overstating the reviewer's own analysis.
- The paper maintains scholarly neutrality while still conveying the collection's significance, avoiding both uncritical praise and unwarranted skepticism.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The review uses thematic synthesis across multiple chapters to demonstrate the book's interdisciplinary coherence. Rather than summarizing each essay in isolation, the reviewer identifies cross-cutting themes — nationalism, identity formation, economic displacement — that tie the disparate contributions together, which is the hallmark of an effective scholarly book review.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with publication context and an overview of the volume's editorial organization. It then works through the book's three sections in order: historical background and the Lausanne Convention, political and economic consequences, and social and cultural impacts. A brief concluding paragraph argues for the work's broader academic relevance across disciplines. The structure mirrors the book itself, which is an appropriate and conventional choice for a book review.
Overview and Structure of the Volume
Crossing the Aegean: An Appraisal of the 1923 Compulsory Population Exchange Between Greece and Turkey is Volume 12 in a Berghahn/Oxford University Press series on forced migration. The series addresses modern and postmodern population migration issues from a cross-disciplinary perspective. Like the other volumes in the Studies in Forced Migration series, Crossing the Aegean is a collection of scholarly essays offering nuanced approaches to a delicate subject. Edited by Renee Hirschon, the book is divided into three core sections.
The first section provides crucial background information and a general overview. The overview covers the geography and history of the region since ancient times, as the Greek empire spanned the Aegean Sea to link what are now two distinct nation-states. The background material offers a more modern historical perspective, including issues related to the rise and fall of the Ottoman Empire, and provides the necessary context for a successful analysis of the 1923 population exchange. Hirschon writes both introductory chapters herself, leaving the remainder of the essays in the compilation to other scholars. Chapter Two, "Consequences of the Lausanne Convention: An Overview," is the springboard chapter because it marks the momentous point at which Greece and Turkey collectively agreed to the population exchange. The Lausanne Convention followed the defeat of Greece by Turkey in 1922.
Reference
Hirschon, Renee. Crossing the Aegean. New York/Oxford: Berghahn/Oxford University Press, 2003.
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