viii acknowledgments
and who inspired me to pursue graduate studies in the subject. At the Univer-
sity of Michigan, Fatma Müge Göçek fi rst guided me with patience and humor
through the intricacies of Ottoman history and paleography, with James Red-
house on my left, an estate register from an eighteenth-century Armenian
grocer of Galata before me, and Professor Göçek on my right. Ron Suny en-
couraged me to engage with theory and see the big picture, becoming a great
mentor fi rst at Michigan and then at the University of Chicago. Michael Bonner,
who fi rst introduced me to Islamic chronicles and fatwa collections, and Juan
Cole, who alerted me to the political nature of historical narratives, furthered
my education in medieval and modern Islamic history, respectively. Todd En-
delman introduced me to the topic of religious conversion. John Woods and
Rashid Khalidi eased the transition to the University of Chicago. Fred Donner
and John Woods provided excellent models of how best to critically approach
Islamic history. Cornell Fleischer taught me how to think historically, paying
attention to the nuances of Ottoman narratives, and compelled me to excel.
Robert Dankoff patiently taught me Ottoman Turkish, attempting to instill in
me Sprachgefühl, and carefully corrected every inaccurate transliteration and
translation that I insisted he read. Joel Kraemer showed me the interrelated
aspects of Jewish and Muslim history. It is my hope that each of these scholars
can see in this book a refl ection of his or her own best work.
Access to collections and linguistic and historical training mean little with-out a supportive work environment, fi nancial assistance, and time for contem-
plation. I am thankful to the History Department and School of Humanities
at the University of California, Irvine, for providing a setting that allows me
to pursue research and focus on my writing. The School of Humanities sup-
ported summer research travel to Istanbul. Fulbright, Social Sciences Research
Council, and American Research Institute in Turkey fellowships enabled me
to conduct the research for this book in Istanbul, and the Institute of Turkish
Studies gave support to its initial writing. A Humboldt Fellowship in Germany
allowed me time to complete the narrative. I thank my colleagues and friends
Maurus Reinkowski at the Albert-Ludwigs University in Freiburg and Gudrun
Krämer at the Free University in Berlin, who served as my hosts during my stay
in Germany.
One does not write a book alone. Discussions with many colleagues enabledme to better articulate its themes. The fellows of the SIAS Institute, “Hierarchy,
Marginality, and Ethnicity in Muslim Societies,” convened by Mark Cohen and
Gudrun Krämer at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin and Princeton University;
the fellows at the Dartmouth College Humanities Center’s seminar on conver-
sion, convened by Kevin Reinhart and Dennis Washburn; the fellows in the
University of California Humanities Research Institute, “Gender and Sexual