Told through the life and work of a barber-Ibn Budayr-this book explores emerging written historical forms by non-scholars in the 18th century Ottoman Empire to offer a revisionist history that connects 18th century society and culture to the 19th century Arab Renaissance.

Dana Sajdi is Associate Professor of History at Boston College. She is the editor of Ottoman Tulips, Ottoman Coffee: Leisure and Lifestyle in the Eighteenth Century (2008) and coeditor of Transforming Loss into Beauty: Essays in Arabic Literature and Culture in Memory of Madga Al-Nowaihi (2008).

"Sajdi's The Barber of Damascus is a study, which, without any doubt, will become foundational to students and researchers focusing on the cultural and intellectual history of the Levant in Ottoman times."