Customer Reviews

The Well-Protected Domains: Ideology and the Legitimation of Power in the Ottoman Empire 1876-1909

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Although the volume suffers occasionally from a lack of organization, this currently is probably the best single work on the nature of Ottoman State legitimacy during the reign of Abdulhamit II. Deringil persuasively argues that the Hamidian regime did not represent a simple revival of Islam; rather, borrowing from Hobsbawm's language of "invented traditions," the Hamidian regime represented a fundamental rethinking of Islamic themes, changing their meaning and putting them to new uses as part of a general program of top-down modernization.

Kemal Karpat's Politicization of Islam takes on many of the same themes and is perhaps broader in scope. Unfortunately, Karpat's work is too disjointed and meandering for most readers and the Deringil volume is probably the best choice for the classroom or for those not planning advanced degrees in the subject. Many, of course, will choose to read both volumes, and both have much to offer.