'… a stimulating semi-revisionist history focusing on continuities rather than ruptures … The book excavates remarkable details from the years of flux after the collapse of the Ottoman state.' The Hurriyet Daily News
1. Introduction; 2. Ottoman modernity in the long nineteenth century: training state servants and making citizens; 3. The theory and practice of colonialism in the post-Ottoman Middle East; 4. Losing the war and fighting the settlement: the post-Ottoman Middle East takes shape, 1918–22; 5. League of Nations hopes and disappointments: the return of armed struggle in the post-Ottoman era, 1923–7; 6. Colonial constitutions and treaties: post-Ottoman militarism, 1927–36; 7. The final days of the last Ottoman generation, 1936–8; 8. Epilogue and conclusion.