ABSTRACT
This chapter lays out the rationale behind The Arab Lands under Ottoman Rule, describing how it was originally commissioned as an update to the late P. M. Holt’s 1966 Egypt and the Fertile Crescent. The study of the Ottoman Empire and the study of history in general have changed dramatically since 1966. As a result, The Arab Lands takes a much broader approach than Egypt and the Fertile Crescent. It moves beyond the political arena to explore economic, religious, and intellectual life. At the same time, it incorporates the full spectrum of socio-economic classes, as well as women, religious minorities, and slaves.
