Daniel Stolz

Biography

I research and teach the history of the late Ottoman Empire and the emergence of the modern Middle East in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.  I am especially interested to understand how Ottomans used new kinds of technical knowledge to transform their society in the decades before World War I. In my first book, The Lighthouse and the Observatory: Islam, Science, and Empire in Late Ottoman Egypt (Cambridge University Press, 2018), I  showed how new astronomical practices enabled the growth of the modern Egyptian state, and of Islamic movements that emphasized uniform and precise observance of ritual duties. I am currently conducting research for my second book, The Long Debt: The Ottoman Loans and Economic Governance in the Twentieth Century. This project investigates how the Ottoman state bankruptcy of the late nineteenth century helped birth the technical infrastructure for two enduring features of the twentieth century: the global political power of bondholders, and national economic governance in the post-Ottoman states of the Middle East and the Balkans.

I currently chair the Turkish Studies Committee, which oversees the Kemal H. Karpat Center for Turkish Studies. The Karpat Center provides funding to graduate students, encourages undergraduate study of Turkish language, hosts or co-sponsors academic events, and works to advance UW-Madison’s long tradition of excellence in diverse areas of Turkish Studies.

In addition to Introduction to the Modern Middle East (History 139), I offer courses that explore science, technology, finance, and religion in Ottoman and Middle East History.

Education

PhD, Princeton University
AB, Harvard College

Books

Selected Publications

Selected Awards

History Courses