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Eighteen expert researchers have come together to provide original articles and new perspectives on transformation throughout Ottoman history, in order to honor the life's work of Metin Kunt. Kunt's work revolutionized our understanding of change in Ottoman political, social and cultural history in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. This new collection focuses on the contributions of key players in these fields and includes chapters on Ottoman artisans in a changing political context, Ottoman chief scribes and the rhetorics of political survival in the 17th century, and empiricism in the Ottoman Empire. Contributors are Antonis Anastasopoulos, Iris Agmon, Tülay Artan, Karl K. Barbir, Fatih Bayram, Suraiya Faroqhi, Cornell H. Fleischer, Pál Fodor, Mehmet Kalpaklı, Cemil Koçak, B. Harun Küçük, Aslı Niyazioğlu, Mehmet Öz, Kaya Şahin, Derin Terzioğlu, Ekin Tuşalp-Atiyas, Christine Woodhead, N. Zeynep Yelçe, Elizabeth A. Zachariadou.

Living in the Ottoman Realm brings the Ottoman Empire to life in all of its ethnic, religious, linguistic, and geographic diversity. The contributors explore the development and transformation of identity over the long span of the empire's existence. They offer engaging accounts of individuals, groups, and communities by drawing on a rich array of primary sources, some available in English translation for the first time. These materials are examined with new methodological approaches to gain a deeper understanding of what it meant to be Ottoman. Designed for use as a course text, each chapter includes study questions and suggestions for further reading.

The Ottomans ruled much of the Arab World for four centuries. Bruce Masters's work surveys this period, emphasizing the cultural and social changes that occurred against the backdrop of the political realities that Arabs experienced as subjects of the Ottoman sultans. The persistence of Ottoman rule over a vast area for several centuries required that some Arabs collaborate in the imperial enterprise. Masters highlights the role of two social classes that made the empire successful: the Sunni Muslim religious scholars, the ulama, and the urban notables, the acyan. Both groups identified with the Ottoman sultanate and were its firmest backers, although for different reasons. The ulama legitimated the Ottoman state as a righteous Muslim sultanate, while the acyan emerged as the dominant political and economic class in most Arab cities due to their connections to the regime. Together, the two helped to maintain the empire.

The Climate of Rebellion in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire explores the serious and far-reaching impacts of Little Ice Age climate fluctuations in Ottoman lands. This study demonstrates how imperial systems of provisioning and settlement that defined Ottoman power in the 1500s came unraveled in the face of ecological pressures and extreme cold and drought, leading to the outbreak of the destructive Celali Rebellion (1595–1610). This rebellion marked a turning point in Ottoman fortunes, as a combination of ongoing Little Ice Age climate events, nomad incursions and rural disorder postponed Ottoman recovery over the following century, with enduring impacts on the region's population, land use and economy.