Until recently, the study of the Middle East has focused almost exclusively on Islam and on the regime, especially on its non-democratic aspects. It has done so at the expense of accounting fully for the forces of scepticism, liberty, and creativity that struggle against Islamic conformism and state hegemony. Strangely, there seems to be no scholarly awareness of the simple fact that however influential religion appears in word and deed, however evident the trappings of state authority, people come into being, thrive, marry, raise families, think, laugh, and cry without regard to - indeed, sometimes in utter defiance of - the strictures of religious or state authority. This volume examines how Middle Eastern peoples in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries lived and flourished while trying to shape their political and religious surroundings outside the formal structures of established religion and the state.

How Middle Eastern peoples in the past two centuries lived outside the region's politico-religious structures.

Book Information
ISBN 9780521789721
Author Charles E. Butterworth
Format Paperback
Page Count 272
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 365g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 19mm