Year of the Locust: A Soldier's Diary and the Erasure of Palestine's Ottoman Past - Softcover

Tamari, Salim; Turjman, Ihsan Salih

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0520287509 ISBN 13: 9780520287501

Publisher: University of California Press, 2015

Synopsis

Year of the Locust captures in page-turning detail the end of the Ottoman world and a pivotal moment in Palestinian history. In the diaries of Ihsan Hasan al-Turjman (1893-1917), the first ordinary recruit to describe World War I from the Arab side, we follow the misadventures of an Ottoman soldier stationed in Jerusalem. There he occupied himself by dreaming about his future and using family connections to avoid being sent to the Suez., His diaries draw a unique picture of daily life in the besieged city, bringing into sharp focus its communitarian alleys and obliterated neighborhoods, the ongoing political debates, and, most vividly, the voices from its streets - soldiers, peddlers, prostitutes, and vagabonds. Salim Tamari's indispensable introduction places the diary in its local, regional, and imperial contexts while deftly revising conventional wisdom on the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire.

About this title

Review:

"An unparalleled window into everyday life in [Jerusalem during the First World War]."--William Armstrong"Hurriyet Daily News" (09/01/2013)

"A must-read for both researchers and the general reading public."--This Week In Palestine (12/29/2011)

"A major contribution to the field of social and cultural history of twentieth-century Palestine."--Arab Studies Journal (07/16/2012)

"Impressively thoughtful, layered, and well-documented. . . . A precise and well-done history."-- (05/07/2012)

"The value and significance of the volume . . . is without question. . . . The writing is compelling and engaging. . . . [An] artful, smooth translation."-- (03/25/2013)

About the Author:

Salim Tamari is Professor of Sociology at Birzeit University, Palestine, the Director of the Institute of Jerusalem Studies, and the author of Mountain Against the Sea (UC Press).

About this edition

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0520287509
• ISBN 13: 9780520287501
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 214