Notables

Notables: 101 Global LGBTQ People Who Changed the World reveals a group of select Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Two Spirit, and Queer (LGBTQ) individuals whose personal accomplishments in their profession changed the world in some relevant way. Included are founders of various social movements, innovators in sports, leaders in business and politics, explorers and discoverers, instigators in religious movements, thinkers in philosophy, infamous villains, creators of new academic fields of study, and risk takers in the arts, culture and entertainment worlds. The goal is to reveal the nature of the individuals, the important role each played in the world, and the material impact they continue to have.

Focussing on events in the Anatolian town of Tokat during the final two decades of the great Ottoman legal and administrative reforms known as the Tanzimat (1839-76), this book applies elements of social networking theory to analyze and assess the establishment of local governments across the Middle East. The author’s key finding is that the state’s efforts to centralize authority succeeded only when and where locals acted as the primary agents of change. Independent notables, such as the military a‘yân, demanded wealth and state offices in exchange for meting out reform measures according to local idioms of power. Newly created administrative bodies also offered greater social mobility to a growing multiconfessional middle-class in small towns like Tokat. The state was desparate to reform, but opportunistic provincials were eager to have it only on their own terms. Challenging false assumptions about the limited scope of participatory politics in the Middle East during the nineteenth century, Ottoman Notables and Participatory Politics will be of interest to students and scholars of Political Economy, History and Middle East Studies.

The ending of absolute monarchy and the beginning of political combat between nobles and commoners make the years 1787 to 1788 the first stage of the French Revolution. In this detailed examination, Gruder looks at how the French people became engaged in a movement that culminated in demands for the public's role in government.

Local priests, mayors, and schoolmasters have often been portrayed by French novelists as objects of ridicule. In reality, however, the village notables gave norms to the villagers in their communities and personified the community's values. The influence of village notables and the values they preached and personified ensure their importance in any view of French rural history. Their world was already in transition towards modernity, and they both guided and impeded the process. Village Notables in Nineteenth-Century France tells who these notables were, where they came from, what they thought, what influence they had in local society, how they competed with each other for village hegemony or enhanced status, and what problems they endured. The book is a lively account, solidly based on extensive archival research and other primary sources. It gives the reader a feel for the era and the milieu.

This study attempts to correct the imbalance and, in the process, provides a fascinating interpretation of the rise of the ideology of nationalism within the Arab world. The book focuses on the social and political life of the great notable families of Ottoman Damascus, who, before World War I, played a crucial part in translating the idea into political action.

Kurdish nationalism remains one of the most critical and explosive problems of the Middle East. Despite its importance, the topic remains on the margins of Middle East Studies. Bringing the study of Kurdish nationalism into the mainstream of Middle East scholarship, Hakan Özogálu examines the issue in the context of the Ottoman Empire. Using a wealth of primary sources, including Ottoman and British archives, Ottoman Parliamentary minutes, memoirs, and interviews, he focuses on revealing the social, political, and historical forces behind the emergence and development of Kurdish nationalism. Contrary to the assumption that nationalist movements contribute to the collapse of empires, the book argues that Kurdish leaders remained loyal to the Ottoman state, and only after it became certain that the empire would not recover did Kurdish nationalism emerge and clash with the Kemalist brand of Turkish nationalism.

In this book, the distinguished scholar Hanna Batatu presents a comprehensive analysis of the recent social, economic, and political evolution of Syria's peasantry, the segment of society from which the current holders of political power stem. Batatu focuses mainly on the twentieth century and, in particular, on the Ba`th movement, the structures of power after the military coup d'état of 1963, and the era of îvfiz al-Asad, Syria's first ruler of peasant extraction. Without seeking to prove any single theory about Syrian life, he offers a uniquely rich and detailed account of how power was transferred from one demographic group to another and how that power is maintained today. Batatu begins by examining social differences among Syria's peasants and the evolution of their mode of life and economic circumstances. He then scrutinizes the peasants' forms of consciousness, organization, and behavior in Ottoman and Mandate times and prior to the Ba`thists' rise to power. He explores the rural aspects of Ba`thism and shows that it was not a single force but a plurality of interrelated groups--prominent among them the descendants of the lesser rural notables--with different social goals and mental horizons. The book also provides a perceptive account of President Asad, his personality and conduct, and the characteristics and power structures of his regime. Batatu draws throughout on a wide range of socioeconomic and biographical information and on personal interviews with Syrian peasants and political leaders, offering invaluable insights into the complexities of a country and a regime that have long been poorly understood by outsiders.

This book analyzes the relations between the Maronite notables and the Church in the context of socio-economic transformations in Mount Lebanon in the period 1736-1840. Special attention is given to the role of "waqf"s and the influences of the Vatican and the central provincial ottoman authorities.