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f acilitated matters in Turkey in general. Without his opening of doors,
my research in that country would not have been very fruitful.
In Thessaloníki, I was assisted by my energetic research assistants Paris
Papamichos Chronakis and Sotiris Dimitriadis. Eleni Karanastassi, Kon-
stantinos Giantsis, and Virginia Mavridou provided much-needed sweet-
ened iced coffees and assistance at the Historical Archive of Macedonia.
Eleni Limpaki narrated to me the history of the Ahmet Kapancı villa.
John C. Alexander and Vassilis Demetriadis shared with me their long
experience working with sources in Thessaloníki. Alberto Nar, the official
historian of the Jewish community, acceded to my request for an inter-
view. I was honored by an invitation to present my research before the
Group for the Study of the History of the Jews of Greece at the University
of Macedonia. Nicholas Stavroulakis, Rena Molho, and Tony Molho gave
important feedback. Penelope Papailias again facilitated matters in Greece
in general. Without her, everything Greek would be a mystery to me.
In the United States, Engin Akarlı and Heath Lowry first introduced
me to the topic and to Dönme contacts in the United States and Turkey.
Fatma Müge Göçek first discussed the socioeconomic dimensions of the
Dönme experience with me. Timothy Baldwin introduced me to study-
ing the Dönme in Greece. Aron Rodrigue and Julia Phillips Cohen filled
in gaps in my knowledge of Sephardic Jewish history. Shaul Magid shared
his knowledge of rabbinic debates about conversion. Robert Dankoff
helped translating Ottoman literature. Sonja Hamilton and Adam Guerin
assisted me with questions about French material, Richard Wittman and
Laurel Plapp with German.
Many audiences and fellow participants in workshops and seminars in
the United States and Europe gave much crucial feedback, which shaped
the book as it developed. This includes the Leslie Humanities Center at
Dartmouth College, where a fellowship for the semester-long seminar
“Converting Cultures: Religion, Ideology, and Transformations of Mo-
dernity” enabled me to think about conversion from religious to secular
identity. The seminar was convened by Kevin Reinhart and Dennis Wash-
burn, and I benefited enormously from conversations with Fellows Ertan
Aydın, Laura Jenkins, Barbara Reeves-Ellington, Nancy Stalker, and Alan
Tansman. Serving as a commentator on a panel at the conference with
which the seminar culminated allowed me to realize the global context of
what the Dönme experienced in Turkey. Several of us—Laura, Barbara,
Nancy, and I—convened a panel at the annual meeting of the American
Acknowledgments