Moving beyond the "clash of civilizations" model that surveys the
relationship between Islam and Christianity from a geopolitical
perch, historian Eric R Dursteler focuses on a localized microcosm:
the Venetian merchant and diplomatic community in Muslim
Constantinople. Although dissonance and strife were certainly part
of this relationship, he argues, coexistence and cooperation were
more common.
While such factors as religion, culture, and political status
could be integral elements in constructions of self and community,
Dursteler finds that the fluidity and malleability of identity in
the early modern world made coexistence among disparate cultures
possible.
"The introduction to this book is dazzling... The Venetian
community in Constantinople provides an excellent site for
exploration of issues of nation and identity... [Dursteler's]
overall intention -- to demonstrate cultural diversity in a place
and era that has been commonly assumed to lack it -- remains firmly
at the fore, and he admirably fulfills his task." -- American
Historical Review
"This is a boundary-busting book... Dursteler is to be commended
for this insightful and gracefully written work that delivers a
powerful message in brief compass, and will help change the way we
consider European-Ottoman relations in the early modern era and
perhaps West and non-West relations in our own." -- Renaissance
Quarterly
"A significant contribution to new understandings of national,
ethnic, and religious relations in the past, with clear
explanations of common assumptions and frameworks for fluid
identities and border-crossings." -- Renaissance Studies
"A rich body of interesting and colorful information...
Animportant contribution to our understanding of the complex
Mediterranean world of the early modern period." -- Sixteenth
Century Journal
Eric R Dursteler is an associate professor of history at Brigham
Young University.
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