Year of the Locust: A Soldier's Diary and the Erasure of Palestine's Ottoman Past

by Salim Tamari, Ihsan Salih Turjman

Overview

Year of the Locust captures in page-turning detail the end of the Ottoman world and a pivotal moment in Palestinian history. In the diaries of Ihsan Hasan al-Turjman (1893–1917), the first ordinary recruit to describe World War I from the Arab side, we follow the misadventures of an Ottoman soldier stationed in Jerusalem. There he occupied himself by dreaming about his future and using family connections to avoid being sent to the Suez. His diaries draw a unique picture of daily life in the besieged city, bringing into sharp focus its communitarian alleys and obliterated neighborhoods, the ongoing political debates, and, most vividly, the voices from its streets—soldiers, peddlers, prostitutes, and vagabonds. Salim Tamari’s indispensable introduction places the diary in its local, regional, and imperial contexts while deftly revising conventional wisdom on the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520287501
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	08/18/2015
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Salim Tamari is Professor of Sociology at Birzeit University, Palestine, the Director of the Institute of Jerusalem Studies, and the author of Mountain Against the Sea (UC Press).

Table of Contents

List of Figures
Acknowledgments

1. The Erasure of Ottoman Palestine
2. The Diary of Ihsan Turjman

Notes
Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"A must-read for both researchers and the general reading public."—This Week
In Palestine

"A major contribution to the field of social and cultural history of twentieth-century Palestine."—Arab Studies Journal

"Impressively thoughtful, layered, and well-documented. . . . A precise and well-done history."—Middle East Journal

Editorial Reviews

"An unparalleled window into everyday life in [Jerusalem during the First World War]."

Hurriyet Daily News - William Armstrong

Impressively thoughtful, layered, and well-documented. . . . A precise and well-done history.

Farid M. Al-Salim

A major contribution to the field of social and cultural history of twentieth-century Palestine.

Arab Studies Journal

The value and significance of the volume . . . is without question. . . . The writing is compelling and engaging. . . . [An] artful, smooth translation.

Jrnl Of Palestine Studies - Rochelle Davis

A must-read for both researchers and the general reading public.

This Week In Palestine

A must-read for both researchers and the general reading public.

This Week Ícaro|Ícaro|Ícaro|In Palestine

"A must-read for both researchers and the general reading public."--This Week In Palestine

"A major contribution to the field of social and cultural history of twentieth-century Palestine."--Arab Studies Journal

"Impressively thoughtful, layered, and well-documented. . . . A precise and well-done history."--Middle East Journal

"The value and significance of the volume . . . is without question. . . . The writing is compelling and engaging. . . . [An] artful, smooth translation."--Jrnl of Palestine Studies

From the Publisher