Soie et fer is a wide-ranging historical narrative about the nineteenth-century Mediterranean, centered on the dense ties linking Mount Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, and Europe. Its starting point is the silk economy of Mount Lebanon: mulberry cultivation, silkworm breeding, and the commercial networks connecting Lebanese production to the silk industry of Lyon. From there, the book expands to show how trade, transport, diplomacy, missionary activity, social conflict, and imperial ambition bound the Levant to Europe. The French edition was published by Sindbad/Actes Sud in 2017.
Silk and Iron: From Mount Lebanon to the Suez Canal (French Edition)
Soie et fer : Du Mont-Liban au canal de Suez
Notes
French translation of the Arabic original حرير وحديد (Riad El-Rayyes, Beirut, 2013, 309pp, ISBN 9789953215518). Digital editions: EPUB 9782330087968, PDF 9782330087975.