Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review"This book is a must read for anyone interested in the Middle East’s present and who might be hopeful for the region’s future." * Middle East Journal *
"Seeking to counter contemporary perceptions of the Middle East as a region riven by sectarian strife, Makdisi examines the ‘culture of coexistence’ which he believes prevailed in the Ottoman Empire and in the post-Ottoman Arab world, despite its religious diversity." * Survival: Global Politics and Strategy *
"An outstanding study with insight about the agency of Arab intellectuals, thinkers and people at large who, despite twentieth-century local and global violence, persist in struggling for a better world. This is a must- read for all scholars and students of Middle East and cultural studies." * Arab Studies Quarterly *
"A hugely important corrective to widespread stereotypes about relations between Muslims, Christians and Jews before Israel's creation." * Peter Beinart *
"Beyond the excellent historical work in which Makdisi engages, his profound rewriting of narratives of sectarianism and coexistence will have a great impact on readers’ understanding of the modern Middle East. . . . Offers hope for an existence that does not distinguish between Muslim and non-Muslim or Jew and non-Jew but aims to humanize those who have been seen as inferior."
* Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations *
"One of the salient contributions of the
Age of Coexistence is how Makdisi writes a history that the existing scholarship has either taken for granted or failed to critically examine. . . . Indispensable reading for graduate students entering the field of Middle Eastern history." * Bustan: The Middle East Book Review *
"This is clearly an essential book. . . . There are many lessons to learn from this study with regard to how regions and their peoples, their ethno-religious identities, and their politics are approached, investigated, and narrated." * Journal of Historical Geography *
"What Makdisi has accomplished here is truly impressive. . . .It is my hope that as it spreads in classrooms and in public discourse, The Age of Coexistence will serve the final blow to Western-based stereotypes of a Middle East rife with senseless violence, authoritarianism, and strict religious rule."
* International Journal of Middle East Studies *
"Offers a fresh look at the making of the modern Arab world. Given the plethora of studies that focus on contemporary wars and sectarian violence, this well-researched study employs Arabic and Western resources that challenge the prevailing perceptions about the region and its people. . . . An outstanding study with insight about the agency of Arab intellectuals, thinkers and people at large who, despite twentieth-century local and global violence, persist in struggling for a better world. This is a must-read for all scholars and students of Middle East and cultural studies."
* Arab Studies Quarterly *
"A major achievement. . . . This is historical analysis whose reframing of the past genuinely helps to offer possibilities for imagining future forms of coexistence." * World History Connected *
Table of ContentsList of Maps
Acknowledgments
Note on Transliteration
Introduction: The Ecumenical Frame
Part I
1. Religious Difference in an Imperial Age
2. The Crucible of Sectarian Violence
3. Coexistence in an Age of Genocide
Part II
4. Colonial Pluralism
5. Sectarianism and Antisectarianism in the
Post-Ottoman Arab World
6. Breaking the Ecumenical Frame: Arab and Jew
in Palestine
Epilogue
Notes
Works Cited
Index
