Religion, Economy, and State in Ottoman-Arab History

Historian William Ochsenwald’s collection of essays covers the Arab world under Ottoman rule. However, Ochsenwald eschews the more common subjects – Egypt, Iraq and greater Syriac – for some of the less well-known regions which were part of the Ottoman Empire. A particular strength in Ochsenwald’s writing is the Hijaz, and his articles look at aspects of Ottoman rule in the province, from Ottoman financial policies or the development of the Hijaz railway. He also discusses the role of the Hijaz in emergent Arab nationalism in the twentieth century and European activities in the Hijaz during the nineteenth century. Further down the Arabian peninsula, Ochsenwald also writes on Yemen, where the Ottoman Empire faced a simmering rebellion in the early twentieth century. In addition, Ochsenwald also offers a critical analysis of historiography of the Ottoman Arab world by assessing sources of the study of the region and recent works produced by local historians.