Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Arab World: The Roots of Sectarianism (Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization) [Hardcover]

Bruce Masters (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521803330 | ISBN-13: 978-0521803335 | Publication Date: August 6, 2001

Masters explores the history of Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire and how their identities evolved over four hundred years. While early communities lived within the hierarchy of Muslim law, the nineteenth century witnessed radical change. In response to Western influences, conflict erupted between Muslims and Christians across the empire. This marked the beginning of tensions that informed the rhetoric of religious fundamentalism in the empire's successor states throughout the twentieth century. Thus Masters negotiates the present through the past, contributing to our understanding of the contemporary Muslim world.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...a thoughtful and thought-provoking book..." American Historical Review

"This book reconfirms Bruce Masters as the preeminent expert in Ottoman-and-Arab history." The MIT Electronic Journal of Middle East Studies

"Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Arab World is an excellent study of the history of the Arab Christians in Syria and the development of the Arab Catholic community in Aleppo under Ottoman rule. Bruce Masters, probably the most knowledgeable historian of Aleppo during this period, uses his experience and familiarity with the history to provide us with a penetrating analysis of one of the central features in the early modern history of the region." Middle East Journal

"Bruce Masters's work is a welcome addition to a growing number of monographs that bring to light hitherto neglected aspects of Ottoman history and the complexities of the human experience of the human experience that it represent. Master's book provides rich information...a commendable effort to draw as holistic and dynamic a picture as possible."
Engin Deniz Akarli, Journal of Near Eastern Studies

Book Description

Explores the history of Christians and Jews in the Ottoman empire and how their identities evolved over four hundred years. Whi le early communities lived within the hierarchy of Muslim law, the nineteenth century witnessed radical change. In response to Western influences, conflict erupted between Muslims and Christians across the empire. This marked the beginning of tensions which informed the rhetoric of religious fundamentalism in the empire's successor states throughout the twentieth century. Thus Masters negotiates the present through the past, contributing to our understanding of the contemporary Muslim world.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (August 6, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521803330
• ISBN-13: 978-0521803335
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,153,392 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A scholarly and balanced portrayal, September 20, 2005

By 

tarihci202 "tarihci202" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Arab World: The Roots of Sectarianism (Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization) (Hardcover)

Bruce Masters presents here a remarkably subtle and well-researched portrayal of the relations between Muslims and non-Muslims in the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire and the shifts that occured in these relations during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In contrast to many of the polemics and platitudes which are often offered up in popular debates, Masters provides a rich and complex description of interconfessional relations which were dynamic and changing. For scholars of the late Ottoman Empire or its minorities, this work is a "must read," bringing into question much of the received wisdom regarding both the millet system and its breakdown. For those, who simply want to have a basic understanding of the relation between Islam and subject non-Muslims, one could hardly do better than his chapter, "The Limits of Tolerance.

Apparently there is a paperback version of this work which, as of this writing (9/20/05), is offered directly from CUP but not on Amazon.