From Life Itself zooms in on a single Istanbul neighborhood and, in the process, manages to capture the political mood of an entire country. Think of it as geopolitics at street level … For readers interested in geopolitics, this is the kind of book that reminds you that big political shifts rarely feel “big” while you’re living through them. … The result is a portrait of modern Istanbul that doubles as a case study in how democracies can morph under pressure. It’s also a quiet warning: political transformation rarely announces itself with a drumroll.