“The Terrible Turk” in industrial America: a case of orientalism in late nineteenth-century American newspapers

This study analyzes Orientalism and masculinity in the discourse of American newspapers in the late nineteenth century. For this purpose, it focuses on the newspaper reports about a Muslim-Ottoman athlete, Yusuf İsmail, who achieved enough fame to attract the media’s attention with his prowess in wrestling. Through the story of İsmail, this study examines the social and psychological impacts of rapid socioeconomic changes on American masculinity, which reflected the discursive elements of American sports media in their struggle with identifying an unusual athlete.