Research Guides: HIST 270: From Empire to Nation: The Ottoman World Transformed (HC): Background Information

Daily Life in Ottoman Turkey

Cook in the rue de Stamboul, Istanbul, photochrom print, 1890-1900 (Source: Library of Congress)

Handbooks and Companions

The following sources provide overviews of Middle Eastern history. They are a quick way to find out the basic facts and recent scholarly interpretations.

When using an article in an encyclopedia or handbook, always check the bibliography for further reading at the end of the article. It will provide a selective list of the books, articles, and, frequently, Web resources considered to be the most up-to-date and reliable.

Companion to the history of the Middle East
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Offers 26 essays by leading international scholars treating the Middle East as four differentiated political units: Iran, Turkey, Israel, and the Arab world. It is focused primarily on the modern and contemporary periods. A final section highlights issues that have preoccupied historians in the second half of the twentieth century and onward. These range from oil and urban growth to the role of women and democratic human rights.
Oxford Handbook of the History of Nationalism
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Essays in this handbook address political and cultural movements, ideas and ideologies, sentiments, and senses of identity in the Ottoman era, in the Arab world since 1945 and in the pan-Islamic movement.
Ottoman World
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Historiography

Historians have interpreted events in the Middle East from a variety of different viewpoints. Analysis of these interpretations, known generally as historiography, can give more nuance to your arguments and provide a greater context for your understanding.

Book Review Index
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A comprehensive online guide to book reviews with over five million review citations from thousands of publications. Covers 1965-present.

History Compass
This journal publishes literature reviews exclusively. Literature reviews are a particularly useful kind of journal article when doing research. They address the historiographic issues involved in a particular question and the debates among scholars. They map out the intellectual terrain succinctly and give you the major landmarks in terms of key authors and significant titles for greater understanding.
Recent articles include:
"Micro-narrative and the Historiography of the Modern Middle East." Laila Parsons (2011)
"Middle East Historiography: Did We Miss the Cultural Turn?" Kevin W. Martin (2014)
"Global Implications of the Middle Eastern Environment." Alan Mikhail (2011)
Middle East historiographies: narrating the Twentieth Century
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"This collection of ten essays focuses on the way major schools and individuals have narrated histories of the Middle East. The distinguished contributors explore the historiography of economic and intellectual history, nationalism, fundamentalism, colonialism, the media, slavery, and gender. In doing so, they engage with some of the most controversial issues of the twentieth century."

Oxford Bibliographies in Islamic Studies
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An excellent place to start looking for additional writings on your topic. This source consists of annotated bibliographies on various topic. The entry on each topic start with a very short overview followed by suggestions for further reading on various aspects of the topic. The topics are listed alphabetically. To see a list of all of the topics covered click on the "Learn more about this subject" link in the left boxed column. Then scroll down after the new screen appears.

Subject Guide

Karen Viars

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Subjects: Africana & Black Studies, History, Political Science