Hey all,
I recently came upon a very old book by William Miller called The Ottoman Empire 1801-1913. It is a very interesting read so far, but I don't know much about the author or his scholarship. I am very interested in books on Middle East/Ottoman history that would be considered more along the lines of Social history, subaltern, or 'history from below.'
I grabbed this off the book list, anyone have any comments on it?
Osman's Dream: A History of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1923
Osman's Dream is excellent, although could be a little too lengthy/detailed for the average reader.
Ottoman Empire and Islamic Tradition by Norman Itzkowitz is a very good read for understanding the social and religious institutions of the empire.
Here's a list of recommended books on my website, some are not Ottoman history, but history of Islam in general:
Hey there, I actually don't know much about Miller, if you could send a citation, I'd be interested to check it out. Otherwise, Finkel's book is a great place to start since it's really the only single volume history that covers the whole Ottoman Empire from beginning to end (and much more readable than many of the previous efforts). As far as "history from below" goes, you definitely want to check out the work of the late great Donald Quataert who was largely responsible for championing that tradition in the Ottomanist school. He's got dozens of books on many subjects, but he's best known for his work on the Zonguldak miners and his work on consumption studies. He's also got a sort of survey that is worth taking a look at as well. There's tons of other great social histories of the Ottoman Empire, and if you're got a specific sub interest I'm happy to recommend some. Quataert is really the best place to start with that though.