State and Provincial Society in the Ottoman Empire: Mosul, 1540-1834

by Dina Rizk Khoury

Overview

This comparative and broad-ranging book spans three centuries of Ottoman history. It offers a new interpretation of the relations between the central Ottoman empire and provincial Iraqi society in the early modern period, and demonstrates that, contrary to the accepted view, their military, fiscal and political links strenghtened rather than weakened over the period. The book will be of interest to historians of the Middle East and to Ottomanists, as well as to political scientists and those concerned with the process of state formation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521590600
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	01/08/1998
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.29(h) x 0.91(d)

Table of Contents

1. Introduction; 2. The making of a regional economy; 3. War and provincial society; 4. When Osmalis ate the crumbs and left the bread behind: tax farming and provincial society; 5. Between Khassa and 'Amma: elites and commoners in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Mosul; 6. The language of politics: views on sultans, corruption, and land taxes; 7. The practice of politics; 8. Conclusion.

Editorial Reviews

"...she has mastered the sources needed to write a thorough study of Ottoman Mosul. ...this is a book that should be widely read, for it has much to offer a broad historical audience." James A. Reilly, Canadian Journal of History

"...Khoury is to be applauded for both her effort and results." International Journal of Middle East Studies

"Dina Rizk Khoury's impressive and rich work is based on substantial archival research that draws on both central Ottoman and local Mosul archives. It is an important addition to Ottoman studies and to the rediscovery of the complex history of the Arab provinces." Maher Jarrar, MESA Bulletin

"Dr. Khoury's study is an important contribution to a major refinement of our understanding of the Ottoman imperial state." Weston F. Cook, Jr., Sixteenth Century Journal

"The book is at its best in depicting the world view of the provincials, an exceptional achievement that remains rare in Ottoman studies." Turkish Studies Association Bulletin

"...this book occupies a significant position alongside those challenging once-accepted characterizations of total decline during the empire's later centuries. This work greatly benefits from the author's efforts to recognize the plurality of interests at play in defining the conduct of the central state's and local actors' varied relationships, a significant departure from existing reductionist approaches, which have yielded dualistic stereotypes. Khoury's work yields a critical study of the political and socioeconomic contexts of life in a late-Ottoman provincial setting, which meaningfully enhances existing scholarshipo and would be of great utility to academics engaged in social and other histories of the early modern Middle East." Religious Studies Review

From the Publisher