Island & Empire is one year old already, here pictured next to a rose plucked from the mountains of Sfakia, Crete. As the book turns one year old, I'm happy to share reviews by two historians I admire: Ella Fratantuono and Laura Robson.
@stanfordpress.bsky.social

Looking forward to talking about an island & an empire!

I reviewed Leyla Amzi-Erdoğdular's wonderful book "The Afterlife of Ottoman Europe: Muslims in Habsburg Bosnia Herzegovina" for JOTSA. Link and text below for those interested.

www.academia.edu/127813727/Re...

If you're in Athens, I'd love to see you at my book talk.

To join remotely, please register in advance:
us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Rainbow off the coast of Crete

Sound of mountains in Sfakia, Crete.

And I'm pretty sure there're examples with different designs & placements but I don't remember seeing this phrase in a split way, placed on the right & left side of the mihrab. This I realized when I saw again today this one in Hania, Crete. Look right above the two Stars of David.

In many Ottoman mosques one sees the following part of the 37th verse of the sura Al-i İmran written on the top part of the mihrab: "Whenever Zachariah visited her (Mary) in the sanctuary (mihrab)."
The photo here is from the famous mihrab of Hagia Sophia. And there are many other similar examples.

The Italian historian Giuseppe Gerola took a picture of Spinalonga in 1901. So much has happened after 1901. I photographed the islet from the same spot.

Tell me you're in Greece without telling me you're in Greece.

The emergency boat quickly arrived from the village of Plaka, taking us back to the "main-island." On the short boat ride we talked about history & the Greek TV show, Το Νησί (The Island), about the lepers of Spinalonga.

I was the only remaining visitor. She was making sure no one would be locked up in Spinalonga. We were rushing but apparently there was still time for a quick photo--there is always time for a photo! She took one right at the town entrance.

When I arrived in Spinalonga, the weather was pleasant, the sea was calm. As I reached the top, dark clouds had already enveloped the sky. I was walking down back to the landing when I heard the caretaker of Spinalonga calling out, anxious because of the approaching storm.

The inhabitants of Spinalonga were evicted in 1904 as the government of Crete turned this Venetian fortress-islet into a leper colony, which remained open until the 1950s....Today I tasted a bitter olive from the tree next to a half-ruined house. There's no one to harvest it.

In August 1906, the French consul, together with the commander of the French forces in Crete, visited the tiny island of Spinalonga, 750 metres away from the coast of Crete (photo on the left is from chapter 3 of Island & Empire). Today it was I who was on a boat.

Rethymno, Crete

Thank you everyone at the Institute for making this talk possible in such a special place.

I'm very excited that I'll be talking about my book on the island where it was conceived years ago! Tonight at 8:30pm. We are on a Mediterranean time, so we better call this book premiere instead of book talk :)