This concise account of the life and career of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881--1938), the formidable "founder of modern Turkey", offers a substantial revaluation of a key figure in modern history, and also an introduction to the Turkish republic itself. It is a timely study with Turkey again at the centre of international attention, as Islamic fundamentalists challenge many of Ataturk's westernising and secularizing reforms, and as the regional aftershocks of the Soviet collapse reopen profound questions about Turkey's nature, role and relationships Ataturk had sought to settle for good.