Ottoman Edges :

This book offers a vivid, ground-level narrative of how the Ottoman Empire navigated two turbulent centuries of war, diplomacy, and reinvention. From the Treaty of Zsitvatorok to the French invasion of Egypt, this book follows shifting frontiers in the Balkans, the Caucasus, and the Arab provinces; the rise of provincial notables; the transformation of the Janissaries; the monetized pressures of silver and global trade; the aesthetics and politics of the Tulip Period; and the Empire’s steadily sharpening view of Europe. It explores how Russia and Austria surged, how forts and bridges became social institutions, how markets whispered the first warnings of defeat and recovery, and how knowledge—maps, manuals, and newspapers—turned into instruments of power. Bringing cities, soldiers, scholars, and merchants to life, the book reframes “decline” as an intense school of adaptation that culminated in the shock of 1798 Egypt—an ending that seeded the next Ottoman century of reforms.