Arabs and Ottomans : A Checkered Relationship

This collection of articles by Professor Caesar Farah comprises fifty years of research by a leading scholar of Arab-Ottoman relations. Farah's emphasis is on the reform years of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and the emergence of post-Ottoman Arab states following the First World War. In particular, his articles focus on two geographic regions, Syria and Lebanon, and Yemen. Farah takes up the issues of secular nationalism and Islamism and how these impacted Syria and Lebanon during and after the Ottoman era. In the Yemeni case, he approaches the question of how this corner of the Ottoman Empire dealt with foreign encroachment. While addressing different regions, topics and times, Farah's overall approach is to place the Arab lands in an Ottoman context and describe how the breakdown of the old order lead to subsequent historical developments. Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS (page 7) INTRODUCTION (page 9) REFORMED OTTOMANISM AND SOCIAL CHANGE (page 11) AWAKENING INTEREST IN WESTERN SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY IN OTTOMAN SYRIA (page 21) SYRO-EGYPTIANS AND THE LITERARY REVIVAL MOVEMENT (page 31) THE ROLE OF THE SYRO-EGYPTIANS IN THE CULTURAL RENAISSANCE (page 39) CENSORSHIP AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN OTTOMAN SYRIA AND EGYPT (page 53) CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES IN THE ARAB WORLD: MAJORITY-MINORITY RELATIONS (page 79) RELIGION,ETHNICITY AND CONFLICT IN THE SYRIAN REGION (page 87) THE IMPACT OF THE WEST ON THE CONFLICT OF IDEOLOGIES IN THE ARAB WORLD (page 99) THE DILEMMA OF ARAB NATIONALISM (page 111) EMIR BASHIR II'S FISCAL POLICIES FOR MT.LEBANON IN 1837:A SOCIO-ECONOMIC INVESTIGATION (page 127) THE LEBANESE INSURGENCE OF 1840 AND THE POWERS (page 139) THE QUADRUPLE ALLIANCE AND PROPOSED OTTOMAN REFORMS IN SYRIA,1839-1841 (page 157) NECIP PASA AND THE BRITISH IN SYRIA 1841-1842 (page 185) AUSTRIAN DIPLOMACY AND THE MT.LEBANON CRISIS IN THE AGE OF METTERNICH (page 213) PROTESTANTISM AND BRITISH DIPLOMACY IN SYRIA (page 225) A TALE OF TWO MISSIONS (page 245) PROTESTANTISM AND POLITICS:THE 19th CENTURY DIMENSION IN SYRIA (page 255) A SPANISH PERSPECTIVE OF THE 'SYRIAN QUESTION' IN 1844 (page 273) LEBANON AT THE CROSSROADS (page 281) ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO NATIONALISM (page 319) ISLAM AND AMERICA'S NEW CRUSADE (page 337) ARABS & TURKS: COMMON HERITAGE,COMMON DESTINY (page 349) REASSESSING SULTAN ABDULHAMID II'S ISLAMIC POLICY (page 361) GREAT BRITAIN,GERMANY AND THE OTTOMAN CALIPHATE (page 377) ARAB SUPPORTERS OF SULTAN ABDULHAMID II: 'IZZET AL-'ABID (page 395) KHWALDDYAH SALAH: SPY,PATRIOT AND PAN-ISLAMIST (page 417) POLITICAL DIMENSIONS OF ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM (page 431) ORGANIZING FOR THE SECOND CONQUEST OF YEMEN (page 441) YEMENI FORTIFICATION AND THE SECOND OTTOMAN CONQUEST (page 453) ANNOUNCING AN OTTOMAN VICTORY IN HUNGARY TO A YEMENI EMIR (page 459) THE BRITISH CHALLENGE TO OTTOMAN AUTHORITY IN YEMEN (page 469) REAFFIRMING OTTOMAN SOVEREIGNTY IN YEMEN 1825-1840 (page 489) A GERMAN PLAN OF REFORM FOR OTTOMAN YEMEN (page 503) SMUGGLING AND INTERNATIONAL POLITICS IN THE RED SEA IN THE LATE OTTOMAN PERIOD (page 515) BEGINNING OF IMPERIAL RIVALRIES IN THE PERSIAN GULF (page 533)