Between the Ottomans and the Entente

Reviews / Votes

This extensively documented examination of an ethnic population during a critical time in world history should be of interest to historians. Unlike other historical analyses that restrict the examination of the early Arab diaspora to the United States, this text attempts to link movements and events in the early 1900s by civilians in the Arab American diaspora in South America and the United States through their connections to the Ottoman Empire and the Entente (the Allied powers in World War I).... Fahrenthold lays out what transpired in the diaspora juxtaposed to Ottoman actions and policies that affected Syrian communities in the Americas....The thick description and intense detail make this text important to the study of the Arab diaspora in the Americas. * Rosina Hassoun, Journal of American History * This book will be welcomed by scholars of migration history and Arab American history. It should be a recommendation for any course on Middle East migration or on the formation of race in America with reference to migrants from the Islamic world. The archival research is rich and varied, offering accounts as to how the diaspora sat between oppositional forces that tried to pull its members in several directions. Arabic newspapers and regulatory documents feature as prime pieces of information used to understand the physical and ideological trajectories of the mahjar. * Laren Banko, Mashriq & Mahjar * Stacey Fahrenthold's innovative and engaging book analyses the politics and politicking of Syrians and Lebanese in the mahjar (diaspora) in a welcome contribution to the literature on Syrian and Lebanese history as well as diasporic nationalisms....Rather than presuming their marginality, Fahrenthold invests migrants with historical agency and centers them in their national historiesa.This comprehensive and compelling work will advance the study of the twentieth century Middle East and make a substantial new contribution to global history." James Casey, Global Change, Peace & Security Between the Ottomans and the Entente sits creatively at the juncture of international and migration histories of Lebanese and Syrian mobility. As crucial moments of nation-building, early twentieth century revolution and war forced migrants around the Atlantic to re-think their identities and loyalties, along with their networks of 'foreign relations' and connections to home, often while strategically eyeing would-be leaders seeking diaspora support or submission. Threaded throughout is an exquisite and concrete historian's tale of how migrants become invisible in resolutely state-centered archives and systems of governance. * Donna R. Gabaccia, University of Toronto * Stacy Fahrenthold overturns what we thought we knew about the bid for Syrian independence after World War I. In rich detail based on documents from four continents, she recounts how emigres who still enjoyed Ottoman citizenship clamored for Syrian independence under an American mandate. Her story relates how the old diplomacy enacted a 'sorting' of migrants and populations with tragic consequences for Syria. And it stranded populations in an episode that eerily prefigured the great Syrian migration crisis of 2015. Fahrenthold forces us to reconsider Syrian-Arab history from the transnational perspective already accorded to the great wave of European migration in the late nineteenth century and to the Indian and Jewish diasporas. * Elizabeth F. Thompson, American University * Between the Ottomans and the Entente is a groundbreaking and original work. With eloquent prose, expansive research, and probing analysis Stacy Fahrenthold forces us to rethink the rise of nationalism in the Middle East beyond parochial boundaries and to understand the central role the diaspora played in shaping its ideas and institutions. With this work, Fahrenthold establishes herself as a promising scholar in the field of migration studies. * Akram Khater, Moise A. Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies, North Carolina State University * A groundbreaking book that contributes to the historiography of the modern Levant, imperial and international relations, histories of war and migration, and Syrian diasporic politics. Fahrenthold's conceptually-rich approach is accompanied by impressive methodological rigor as she tracks migratory routes into multiple archives, official and non-official, to uncover complex social and political worlds. This is a crisp and engaging read and a necessary one for anyone interested in why and how the mahjar matters. * Sarah Gualtieri, author of Between Arab and White: Race and Ethnicity in the Early Syrian American Diaspora *