Book excerpt: Nostalgia for the Empire examines the social and political origins of beleaguered and wistful expressions of nostalgia about the Ottoman Empire. Political memories of the Ottoman past have been transformed in Turkish society, along with reactions from the outside world. The Ottoman past, as remembered now, is grounded in contemporary conservative Islamic values. Thus, the connection between memories of the Ottoman past and these values defines Turkey's new identity. This new expression of national memory portrays Turkey as a victim of the major powers, justifying its position against its imagined internal and external enemies.