Despite the enormous advances of the Information Age, it is still far from
simple to obtain a clear snapshot of popular sentiment in another country.
While easily accessible, government statements and statistical reports are
frequently designed for foreign consumption, and the works of academics and
journalists often adhere closely to an official line. Yet there is another
source, hidden virtually in plain sight, through which analysts and
policymakers can overcome governments' carefully managed efforts to shape
the perception of their countries: popular culture.
Since they are written according to the demands not of literary scholars but
of consumers, popular works are closely reflective of prevailing attitudes
of the time and place of their creation. This tight link is no less true of
the political thriller genre. Perhaps best exemplified in the United States
by the novels of Tom Clancy, political thrillers incorporate real-world
developments into narratives accessible-and believable-to a general
audience.
One cannot understand the recent rise of anti-American feeling in a country
such as Turkey-for decades a staunch nato ally of the United States-without
reference to the unvarnished perspective of popular fiction. Two recent
works, one the fastest-selling book in Turkish history and the other soon to
break all film-industry records, have both crystallized a number of fears
and anxieties about the future into a scenario that, although described as
fiction, seems to so many to be entirely plausible.
Metal Storm (Metal Firtina), by science-fiction author Burak Turna and
journalist Orkun Uçar, became an instant bestseller in 2005, with over
450,000 copies sold since its first printing in late 2004. Set in 2007,
Metal Storm purports to be an account of a two-stage war launched by the
