Ottomans
The Ugly Side of Nation-Building
The formation of states in the post-Ottoman Balkans owed much to individuals who had thrived in a world of rural lawlessness, warfare and violence. They brought the characteristics of frontier societies to bear on the political culture of these new countries, with lasting effects.
Lebanon’s Famines – Old and New
The Memory Tree honors victims of the terrible famine that wiped out a third of the country's population a century ago. That same fickle, self-serving politics by Lebanon’s rulers has now plunged the country into a spiraling socioeconomic crisis, which is pushing people into hunger once again.
Blurred Lines
The Middle East’s post-Ottoman borders are seen as an ugly embodiment of the way colonialism, nationalism and the 20th-century state dismembered the region. But the Middle East’s new political regimes solidified these lines in the sand with fortified borders.