Internationally renowned scholar Renzo De Felice’s pioneering study of the Jews of Libya is, in many ways, a microcosm of the major sources of conflict in the modern Middle East. This is the first English translation of Ebrei in un paese arabo, originally published by Il Mulino, Bologna, in 1978.

The author’s broad-ranging and meticulous research has enabled him to reconstruct the contemporary history of the Jews in Libya with an incredible richness of detail, bringing into vivid relief the social, religious, cultural, and political lives of a people caught between centuries of tradition and a series of governments bent on plunging them headfirst into the modern world. This story—fraught with the passion, drama, tragicomedy, and conflict of a society in transition—will be an invaluable resource for scholars in Middle Eastern studies, Jewish studies, and contemporary European history. The wealth of documentation, much of it previously unknown or unpublished, makes this a particularly useful book.

• Translator’s Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• 1. Ottoman Rule
• 2. Italian Occupation (1911–1916)
• 3. Arab Revolt and Italian Reconquest (1916–1931)
• 4. Life in the Jewish Community
• 5. Relations with the Italian Authorities
• 6. Fascist Racial Legislation and the War (1938–1943)
• 7. British Occupation (1943–1951)
• 8. Libyan Independence (1949–1951)
• 9. From Idris to Qadhdhafi (1952–1970)
• Notes
• Index of Names