Introduction; 1. State, faith, nation, and the Ottoman Empire; 2. The pre-modern Islamic state and military modernization; 3. The breaking of the pre-modern Islamic state; 4. The reconstructed Muslim state; 5. End of empire; 6. The post-Ottoman Balkans; 7. Post-Ottoman Turkey; 8. The post-Ottoman Arab lands; 9. The contemporary Balkans; 10. Contemporary Turkey; 11. Contemporary Arab countries; Conclusion. State, faith, and nation.
This book argues that religious affiliation was the most influential shaper of communal identity in the Ottoman era.
Frederick F. Anscombe is a Senior Lecturer in Contemporary History at Birkbeck, University of London. His publications include The Ottoman Gulf: The Creation of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar (1997); The Ottoman Balkans, 1750–1830 (edited, 2006); and articles in Past and Present, the Journal of Modern History, and The International History Review.
'A readable accounting of the transformations taking place over the
last 250 years in the Balkans and the Middle East. Anscombe's book
offers an unusual synthesis of scholarship covering regions rarely
considered together. His reinterpretation of the rise of modernity
after the fall of the Ottoman Empire argues that religious
affiliation was the primary historical force behind these
developments. His attempt to account from the traumatic
relationship religious people had with the modern state uniquely
ties events such as the collapse of Yugoslavia to the rise of
political Islam. Summing up: highly recommended. Upper-division
undergraduates and above.' I. Blumi, Choice
'… offers valuable insights into a complicated transitional period
in modern history.' Slavic Review
'… witty and provocative. Anscombe has digested several bodies of
historiography and introduces some new insights from research in
British and Ottoman archives. Many of us preach about bridging
historiographies and moving beyond established nation-centric
narratives. Anscombe accomplishes this masterfully.' Hasan Kayali,
University of California, San Diego
'A pleasure to read … I cannot, within the limits of a brief book
review, do full justice to such a book covering almost a dozen
countries over a period of two centuries. Anscombe's book is a tour
de force with a wealth of minute details ranging from the reasons
for local disturbances in Sarajevo to the legal system of Kuwait,
all woven together within a grand narrative of Ottoman and
post-Ottoman order and disorder. It might be labeled a bold
revisionist historiography of the Ottoman Empire and its aftermath.
I highly recommend it for anyone interested in a remarkably
different interpretation of politics and society in the Ottoman and
post-Ottoman Balkans and the Middle East.' Şener Aktürk, New
Perspectives on Turkey
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