A social, intellectual and political history of the crisis of morality in the Ottoman Empire during World War I

To what extent did a perceived morality crisis play a role in the dramatic events of the last years of the Ottoman Empire? Beginning in the late nineteenth century when some of the Ottoman elites began to question the moral climate as evidence for the losses facing the empire, this book shows that during the course of World War I many social, economic, and political problems were translated into a discourse of moral decline, ultimately making morality a contested space between rival ideologies, identities, and intellectual currents. Examining the primary journals and printed sources that represented the various constituencies of the period, it fills important gaps in the scholarship of the Ottoman experience of World War I and the origins of Islamism and secularism in Turkey, and is essential reading for social and intellectual historians of the late Ottoman Empire.

"The author has successfully grasped a complex and abstract concept. ... a seminal exploration of women’s issues and society during World War I in the Ottoman Empire." - The Journal of Eurasian Inquiries

"Moral Crisis in the Ottoman Empire provides a useful framework and contribution in this field of study, and will certainly prompt discussions and further research." - Middle East Monitor

"Moral Crisis in the Ottoman Empire is based on rich archival research and contributes to a growing literature on the histories of gender and sexuality during the First World War. By placing 1914–18 developments into the longue durée of Ottoman history, Oguz can identify shifts and continuities in the histories of policing, state-civilian relations, gender hierarchies, religious authority, and moral panics." - Journal of Islamic Studies