Ottoman Reform and Muslim Regeneration: Studies in Honour of Prof. Butrus Abu-Manneh

This collection of twelve essays is concerned, in the words of the editors, “with the centre-periphery and state-Islam cleavages during the long nineteenth century of Ottoman attempts at regeneration and reform” (p.3). The volume makes a contribution to the ongoing reassessment to the era, which presents late Ottoman history from an approach of continuum between traditional and modern aspects, instead of a dichotomist understanding. The new emphasis is on the inner processes of change undertaken by a complex society instead of an exaggerated influence of Western actors. I see this substantial shift as a consequence of our zeitgeist, which has taught many historians not to see the world from within the cages of actual political settings, like that of the Cold War.