Mark L Stein
Education
- Ph.D., M.A., University of Chicago
- B.A., Northwestern University
Teaching Interests
I teach history for the same reasons that I was drawn to study history in the first place: I want to understand the societies and civilizations of the past in order to better understand our present. In my courses I not only focus on the events and peoples of the past, but also on the methods that historians use to uncover those details. I emphasize using primary sources of all kinds: government records, literature, personal journals, treaties, art and architecture.
My focus is the history of the Middle East. This is a widely misunderstood region yet one that is vital to our highly interconnected, globalized world. I try to help students recognize the preconceptions that they bring to the class and how other people view their own history and that of the world.
Research and Scholarship
My research focus is the social and economic history of the Ottoman Empire. This is a broad area, as the Ottomans ruled the Middle East and Southeastern Europe for more than 600 years. Specifically, I have investigated the military frontier between the Ottomans and the Habsburg Empire in Hungary in the 17th century. I am currently working on two projects:
First, I am using Ottoman documents and digital mapping technologies to develop a map of Ottoman fortifications and transport routes along their Habsburg frontier.
The second is a review of the state of the field of Ottoman military history.
- Modern Middle Eastern History
- Read Sem: Expanding World of the Early Modern
- Revolutions in the Middle East
"A Tanzimat for TSA,” Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association, Vol. 10, No.1 (Spring, 2023)
“Inalcik and Ottoman Military History,” in Archivum Ottomanicum Vol. 38 (2021).
“Integrative Learning and Simulating Revolution and Protest in the Middle East,” with Brian Mello, Review of Middle East Studies, Vol. 55, no. 1 (Winter 2021).
“Ottoman Observers of Ottoman War in the Seventeenth Century,” in Ottoman War and Peace: Studies in Honor of Virginia H. Aksan, edited by Frank Castiglione, Ethan L. Menchinger, and Veysel Şimşek (Leiden: Brill, 2019).
“Ottoman Observers of Ottoman War,” in A Scholar of Ottoman War, Peace, and Empire: A Festschrift in Honor of Virginia H. Aksan, edited by Frank Castiglione, Ethan L. Menchinger, and Veysel Şimşek (Leiden: Brill, 2019).
Contingency and Emotion: Simulating Middle East Protest and Revolution in the Classroom,” with Brian Mello, Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting, San Antonio, Texas, 15-18 November 2018
“Inalcik and Military History,” 14th International Congress of Ottoman Social and Economic History, Sofia, Bulgaria, 24-28 July 2017.
History
Jewish Studies
Contact: markstein@muhlenberg.edu