Stein's book aims to complicate our understanding of modern European citizenship by offering insight into a type of political belonging beyond citizenship and nationality; to contribute to Jewish history by considering prot eg e status as being part of a spectrum of citizenship that was not merely something someone possessed or lacked, inserting human ... Read moreagency into the historical narrative; and using the example of the Jewish prot eg e to show how Ottoman history shaped the history of European citizenship. On all three aims it succeeds, weaving together Ottoman, Jewish, Middle Eastern, and European History through intimate accounts of the travails of fascinating marginal figures.
International Journal of Middle East Studies Stein's excellent and insightful Extraterritorial Dreams presents the difficulties, ironies, and vexations of Jewish 'nationality' in the twentieth century. In so doing, it traces historical threads that take us from the early modern period to the present day, from the Bronx to Baghdad, and to numerous places and moments in between.
American Historical Review Show Less