Ottoman Women during World War I

'Meticulously researched and clearly written, Elif Mahir Metinsoy's new book draws on petitions, poems, and other sources to capture the battles of ordinary women on the home front. Moving beyond nationalist tropes celebrating 'mothers of the nation' who would be liberated by war, she details how a decade of mobilization proved to be a disaster for refugees, widows, soldiers' wives, and others. Often left with no means of support, these working-class and peasant women fought for their rights as they struggled against hunger, poverty, and homelessness. Their resistance and struggles to feed themselves and their children catapulted them into wartime politics. This is social history at its best, and Metinsoy is to be applauded for capturing the stories of ordinary women during extraordinary, and heartbreaking, times. This book makes a major contribution to the literature on World War I, women and war, and the Ottoman Empire and should be on the reading list of all Middle East scholars.' Beth Baron, The Graduate Center, City University of New York

'This is a significant contribution to the existing lacuna of the social history of First World War in the Middle East. With Elif Mahir Metinsoy's richly textured and archivally grounded depiction of ordinary women's war experience, we are a step closer to a rigorous portrayal of the home front as experienced by Middle Eastern families. The book brings to life the wrenching burdens of total warfare, multiple dimensions of womanhood in wartime, the state's intrusion into citizens' lives, and the survival strategies of non-elite women, including negotiation and resistance.' Hasan Kayalı, University of California, San Diego