Jeremy Seal set out across Turkey, in the extremes of winter, to trace the astonishing history of a cone-shaped hat. He soon saw the fez as the key by which Turkey, beset by contradiction, might be understood.

‘Almost all you could ever need to know about modern Turkey, modern Turks and their one-time headgear. Extremely well written and very funny’ Eric Newby

‘Original and beautifully observed, the book reads like Chatwin with jokes’ Independent

‘Intelligent, funny and informative travelogue . . . Not so much a book about hats as a skilled and entertaining portrait of modern Turkey’ Sunday Times

‘Armchair travellers can rarely have had such a delightfully eccentric guide as Jeremy Seal . . . weaves history, personal and illuminating observation into a sprightly seamless whole’ Scotland on Sunday