The first section of this volume aims to examine various aspects of the impact of Enlightenment thought in the Balkans in the 18th and 19th centuries. Particular topics include the idea of modernization, with respect to the role of science or the position of women, and the growth of new forms of political consciousness, but Professor Kitromilides is throughout concerned with the conflict between these incoming political, cultural and religious ideas and the traditions of Orthodoxy which had dominated the region under the Ottomans. Of the articles, a number focus specifically on the Greek world, both before and after the creation of an independent Greek world, and extend the coverage to include Greek communities beyond Europe. Similarly, the second part of the volume, on dilemmas of nationalism, looks also at Greek irredentism in Asia Minor and Cyprus. The final item combines bibliographical additions with the author’s further reflections on the subjects covered here and their historiography.

'...a valuable contribution to the field...the book’s intellectual scope and comparative depth are remarkable.' Modern Greek Studies

Paschalis M. Kitromilides, PhD Harvard University, is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Athens and Director of the Centre for Asia Minor Studies. From 2000 to 2011 he was Director of the Institute of Neohellenic Research at the National Hellenic Research Foundation.

His books in English include:

The Enlightenment as Social Criticism. Iosipos Moisiodax and Greek Culture in the Eighteenth Century (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992); Enlightenment Nationalism Orthodoxy (Variorum, 1994); An Orthodox Commonwealth. Symbolic Legacies and Cultural Encounters in Southeastern Europe (Variorum Collected Studies Series, Ashgate, 2007); Adamantios Korais and the European Enlightenment (Voltaire Foundation, 2010); Enlightenment and Revolution. The Making of Modern Greece (Harvard University Press, 2013); Enlightenment and religion in the Orthodox world (Voltaire Foundation, 2016).