In July 1860, the city of Damascus exploded. Mobs of Muslim rioters tore through neighbourhoods, burning homes, sacking businesses and murdering Christians. The full restoration of order required both the intervention of European troops and the imposition of more direct rule from the Ottomans’ imperial capital, Istanbul. It would take years for the city to recover from the physical damage wrought by the violence.
, Eugene Rogan’s account of that terrible summer, represents a welcome addition to the author’s impressive canon of work on the history of the Arabic-speaking world. As a
