The Politicization of Islam

Combining international and internal perspectives, Professor Karpat analyses the transformation of the Ottoman Empire over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He views privatization of state lands and the increase of domestic and foreign trade as key factors in the rise of a Muslim middle class, which, increasingly aware of its economic interests and communal roots, then attempted to reshape the government to reflect its ideals. Based on a wealth of original archival documents, records, memoirs, and published sources, this is likely to become an indispensable reference for students of Islam, modern Turkey, and the Middle East, as well as for students of modernism and of encounters between civilizations.