This book analyzes the social, cultural, and historical background of modern Libya from the early nineteenth century through the end of the armed anticolonial resistance. Ahmida challenges Eurocentric theories of social change that ignore the internal dynamics of native social history. Among other things, he shows that Sufi Islam, tribal military organization, and oral traditions were crucial in the fight against colonialism. The political and cultural legacy of the resistance has been powerful, strengthening Libyan nationalism and leading to the revival of strong attachments to Islam and the clan. The memory of this period has not yet faded, and appreciation of this background is essential to understanding present-day Libya.

First Published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

A fascinating record of Libyan Jewish life written by a Talmudic scholar, teacher, itinerant peddler and amateur anthropologist named Mordechai Hakohen. Composed in the early years of the twentieth century, it covers domestic life, religion, trade, as well as relations of Jews to Arabs, Berbers, and the Italians who invaded in 1911. The manuscript was partially published in Italian, then ignored for many years until Dr. Harvey Goldberg's recent discovery of it. ethnographically oriented portrayal of North African Jewish life of this period. Also, as Dr. Goldberg points out, Hakohen's work helps to resolve some broad problems of ethno-history, such as the distinction between Arab and Berber and the position of Jews in North African Society. To accompany his 1978 edition in Hebrew, Dr. Goldberg has now translated the most important sections into English, adding extensive commentaries and notes.

"By the early 1820s, British policy in the Eastern Mediterranean was at a crossroads. Historically shaped by the rivalry with France, the course of Britain's future role in the region was increasingly affected by concern about the future of the Ottoman Empire and fears over Russia's ambitions in the Balkans and the Middle East. The Regency of Tripoli was at this time establishing a new era in foreign and commercial relations with Europe and the United States. Among the most important of these relationships was that with Britain. Using the National Archive records of correspondence of the British consuls and diplomats from 1795 to 1832, and within the context of the wider Eastern Question, this book reconstructs the the Anglo-Tripolitanian relationship and argues that the Regency played a vital role in Britain's imperial strategy during and after the Napoleonic Wars. Moreover, it contends that the activities of British consuls in Tripoli, and the networks they fostered around themselves, reshaped the nature and extent of British imperial activity in the region"--