An examination of why Jews promote a positive image of Ottomans and Turks while denying the Armenian genocide and the existence of antisemitism in Turkey.Based on historical narrative, the Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 were embraced by the Ottoman Empire and then, later, protected from the Nazis during WWII. If we believe that Turks and Jews have lived in harmony for so long, then how can we believe that the Turks could have committed genocide against the Armenia...

For Achilles, the hero of Troy, immortality was a curse. Until he found a reason to fight.The Exodus was never just about freedom from slavery.Behind the parting of the Red Sea, beyond the staff that became a serpent, beneath the blood on Egyptian doorposts, a cosmic conflict unfolded. Greek and Egyptian gods clashed with Hebrew power. Egyptian deities fought for survival. And one immortal warrior, banned from Olympus and haunted by immortality without purp...

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZEA SUNDAY TIMES PAPERBACK OF THE YEAR'Magnificent . . . Important and hugely readable' William Dalrymple, Financial Times'A wildly ambitious and entertainingly lurid history' James Barr, The Times'A panoramic and thought-provoking account' Guardian'A winning portrait of seven centurie...

A Financial Times Book to Read in 2026Muslims and Jews have engaged one another -sometimes for better, sometimes for worse - for over 1,400 years. Yet recent discourse tends to focus on only the most antagonistic aspects of the two communities' interactions. Marc David Baer paints a more nuanced picture of Muslim-Jewish relations, from Muhammad's first interactions with Jewish Arabs in the seventh century and their shared struggles after the Spanish Reconq...

In Honored by the Glory of Islam Marc David Baer proposes a novel approach to the historical record of Islamic conversions during the Ottoman age and gathers fresh insights concerning the nature of religious conversion itself. Rather than explaining Ottoman Islamization in terms of the converts' motives, Baer instead concentrates on the proselytizers -- in this case, none other than the sultan himself. Mehmed IV (1648-87) is remembered as an aloof ruler whose ineffectual governing...

In Recovering Christian Realism, H. David Baer interprets just war theory as political ethic concerned with the moral administration of power. He argues that contemporary just war theorists, by debating the finer points of individual criteria, have lost sight of the theory of politics that gives rise to just war thinking in the first place. Baer attempts to relocate just war theory within the tradition of Christian realism in order to develop an ethic capable of addressing the uses of powe...

Hugo Marcus (1880–1966) was a man of many names and many identities. Born a German Jew, he converted to Islam and took the name Hamid, becoming one of the most prominent Muslims in Germany prior to World War II. He was renamed Israel by the Nazis and sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp before escaping to Switzerland. He was a gay man who never called himself gay but fought for homosexual rights and wrote queer fiction under the pen name Hans Alienus during his decades of exile.

Hugo Marcus (1880–1966) was a man of many names and many identities. Born a German Jew, he converted to Islam and took the name Hamid, becoming one of the most prominent Muslims in Germany prior to World War II. He was renamed Israel by the Nazis and sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp before escaping to Switzerland. He was a gay man who never called himself gay but fought for homosexual rights and wrote queer fiction under the pen name Hans Alienus during his decades of exile.

In Honored by the Glory of Islam Marc David Baer proposes a novel approach to the historical record of Islamic conversions during the Ottoman age and gathers fresh insights concerning the nature of religious conversion itself. Rather than explaining Ottoman Islamization in terms of the converts' motives, Baer instead concentrates on the proselytizers -- in this case, none other than the sultan himself. Mehmed IV (1648-87) is remembered as an aloof ruler whose ineffectual governing...

This book tells the story of the Dönme, the descendents of Jews who resided in the Ottoman Empire and converted to Islam along with their messiah, Rabbi Shabbatai Tzevi, in the seventeenth century. For two centuries following their conversion, the Dönme were accepted as Muslims, and by the end of the nineteenth century rose to the top of Salonikan society. The Dönme helped transform Salonika into a cosmopolitan city, promoting the newest innovation in trade and finance, urban reform, and m...

A book as sweeping, colorful, and rich in extraordinary characters as the empire which it describes - Tom HollandThe Ottoman Empire has long been depicted as the Islamic-Asian antithesis of the Christian-European West. But the reality was starkly different: the Ottomans' multiethnic, multilingual, and multireligious domain reached deep into Europe's heart. In their breadth and versatility, the Ottoman rulers saw themselves as the new Romans.Recounting the O...

Muslims and Jews have engaged one another -sometimes for better, sometimes for worse - for over 1,400 years. Yet recent discourse tends to focus on only the most antagonistic aspects of the two communities' interactions.Marc David Baer paints a more nuanced picture of Muslim-Jewish relations, from Muhammad's first interactions with Jewish Arabs in the seventh century and their shared struggles after the Spanish Reconquista to the ongoing modern conflict in the Middle East.F...