Eugene Rogan is author of the bestselling The Fall of the Ottomans- The Great War in the Middle East, 1914-1920. He is professor of modern Middle Eastern history at the University of Oxford and Director of the Middle East Centre, St Antony's College, Oxford.
PRAISE FOR THE FALL OF THE OTTOMANS: 'Thrilling, superb, and colourful ... truly essential but also truly exciting reading. -- Simon Sebag Montefiore A timely and capacious history... compelling and brilliant. -- Jeremy Seal * Sunday Telegraph * Remarkably readable, judicious and well-researched. -- Mark Mazower * Financial Times * PRAISE FOR THE DAMASCUS EVENTS: Compelling and authoritative, powerful in narrative, and filled with new revelations, this book offers a superb account of the 1860 Damascus massacres—much neglected nowadays but central to the creation of the modern Middle East. -- Simon Sebag Montefiore In the hands of the distinguished historian and master storyteller Eugene Rogan, an incident of communal violence in Damascus in 1860 is at once an evocation of the vanished world of the Ottoman empire and an ominous foreshadowing of the communal violence tearing apart the Middle East of today. -- Margaret MacMillan A stunning portrait of the Ottoman Empire and of Damascus during a time of crisis. Absolutely riveting. -- Peter Frankopan This book stands out for its impeccable scholarship, gripping narrative and captivating prose. There is a great deal of new material here that not only brings events alive, but also leads to fresh assessments of one of the most momentous events in modern Arab history. Rogan uses the full panoply of primary sources in French, Ottoman Turkish and Arabic to brilliantly illuminating effect. A remarkable book by a remarkable historian. -- Avi Shlaim