Table of Contents

Introduction: 1. The limits of tolerance: the social status of non-Muslims in the Ottoman Arab lands; 2. The Ottoman Arab world: a diversity of sects and peoples; 3. Merchants and missionaries in the seventeenth century: the West intrudes; 4. New opportunities and challenges in the 'long' eighteenth century; 5. Intercommunal dissonance in the nineteenth century; 6. After the 'events': the search for community in the twilight of empire; Conclusion.

Promotional Information

History and evolution of Christian and Jewish communities in the Ottoman empire over 400 years.

Reviews

'... this book is extremely well written ... It deserves a wide audience.' Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 'This extremely well-researched and insightful book is of great interest not only to academics, but also to a wider readership eager to understand the present turmoil in the former provinces of the Ottoman Empire and to imagine solutions to their crises.' Middle Eastern Studies 'The richness of the book in terms of scope, its careful argument in the interpretation of individual events and actions, based on primary source material of various kinds, and the well organized synthesis of numerous divergent strains, offer more than a unified new key to the sectarian violence of the 19th century. It will certainly become an important assignment in graduate and undergraduate courses on the Arab World in Ottoman times, and on minorities in the Middle East in general.' JESHO '... a valuable contribution to our understanding of the relationship of religion, identity, and politics in the Arab Middle East.' Rebecca Bryant, Ethnic and Racial Studies