A History of Jeddah: The Gate to Mecca in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

Abstract

This paper reviews Ulrike Freitag's recent book, AHistory ofJeddah: The Gate to Mecca in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (2020), is based on careful and competent historiographical scholarship. It provides a comprehensive and analytical account of Jeddah's history and fills a significant void in the literature on Ottoman and Middle Eastern urban history, history of the Hijaz, and of port cities. As such, if translated, this book would attract a much broader readership in Turkey as well.