The Public Sphere in Muslim Societies

Eight papers developed during a two-year workshop at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute were presented in finished form at an October 1997 international conference held there. Social scientists, historians, and area scholars argue that traditional, pre-modern Muslim society had diverse and changing varieties of public spheres, the manifestations of which have been as far-ranging as the ideas and expression of Islamic civilization itself. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Miriam Hoexter is Associate Professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the author of Endowments, Rulers, and Community: Waqf al-Haramayn in Ottoman Algiers.

Shmuel N. Eisenstadt is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Senior Fellow at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. He has published many books, including most recently, Fundamentalism, Sectarianism, and Revolution: The Jacobin Dimension of Modernity.

Nehemia Levtzion is Fuld and Bamberger Professor of History of the Muslim Peoples at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His most recent book, coedited with Randall L. Pouwels, is The History of Islam in Africa.