"In this well-researched, tightly argued, and sophisticated book, Bedross Der Matossian maintains that the enormous chasm between the Weltanschauungen of the Ottom Committee of Union and Progress and of the major Armenian, Jewish, and Arab political organizations and intellectuals made any agreement on the basic tenets of the new constitutional regime impossible . . . [S]tudents of Ottoman, Armenian, Arab, and modern Jewish history will be indebted to Der Matosian for his extremely valuable contribution to the field."—M. Şükrü Hanioğlu, Perspective on Politics

"In the introduction to this timely and well-researched study of the Ottoman Constitutional Revolution of 1908 and its aftermath, Bedross Der Matossian insists on defining the three groups under study as "ethnic" as opposed to "national" collectives . . . Perhaps the greatest achievement of Der Matossian's fine study is that it brings to life the multiple voices of some of the most important of these ethnic groups where others have tended to lump them together en bloc"

—Benjamin C. Fortna, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies

"Shattered Dreams of Revolution is a timely book and a meticulously researched work. It locates itself in the growing field of the history of Ottoman ethnic and religious minorities, or as Der Matossian rightly prefers to refer to them, the non-dominant groups, in the nineteenth and early twentieth century . . . Shattered Dreams is a grappling book, an academic work of extremely high standard, which boasts impeccable and meticulous archival research in a number of languages. It is a book that sheds light on the very complicated last crucial years of the pre-war Ottoman Empire."

—Stefano Taglia, Middle Eastern Studies

"Bedross Der Matossian brings a valuable contribution to our understanding of both modern revolutions and late Ottoman history . . . The real value of Shattered dreams of revolution lies in providing a new perspective on the contemporary drama of the Middle East, by grounding its roots firmly in the region's history, revolutionary process promising freedom and equality but eventually leading to inter-community violence, a situation which strongly echoes the current state of affairs in the region."—Vicken Cheterian, International Affairs

"[A] recent work by Bedross Der Matossian is valuable, for it proposes a different analogy to the Arab spring and thus casts new light on the present. Shattered Dreams of Revolution" From Liberty to Violence in the Late Ottoman Empire is above all a work of historical scholarship, but it also makes a compelling case for looking at the Arab spring in light of the Young Turk revolution - which began with a military cou d'etat - in the Ottoman empire in 1908."

—Vicken Cheterian, openDemocracy

"[T]his book is an important contribution to research on the period following the Young Turk Revolution, which deserves our attention. It highly contributes to current discussions and surely will raise new ones."—Dr. Yuval Ben-Bassat, (in Hebrew) in Ha-Mizrah Ha-Hadash (New East)

"Der Matossian's Shattered Dreams of Revolution: From Liberty to Violence in the Late Ottoman Empire, stands out among the plethora of volumes on the events surrounding the Young Turk Revolution, as it looks at the revolution through the lenses of three nondominant groups in the empire - Armenians, Jews, and Arabs. Drawing upon a rich body of sources in at least five languages (Ottoman Turkish, Armenian, Arabic, Hebrew, and Ladino), the author provides the reader with a much richer understanding of the dynamics that brought about the revolution of 1908, as well as the postrevolutionary, counterrevolutionary, and subsequent dynamics than many other studies that have taken the Committee of Union and Progress as their primary lens of analysis."

—Janet Klein, International Journal of Middle East Studies

"[N]o historian has approached the subject of non-dominant ethnic groups in such a comprehensive and multilingual manner as Der Matossian has done in this volume. His study of Ottoman Armenians, Arabs, and Jews in the immediate aftermath of the revolution outlines the complex nature of post-revolutionary politics and the lack of homogeneity within each of these groups . . . Highly recommended."

—R.W. Zens, Choice

"Shattered Dreams of Revolution is a compelling work on the Ottoman revolution of 1908 and its shortcomings . . . [T]his work must be commended for presenting a fresh picture of the revolution as a key event that needs to be more fully studied for its repercussions on the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. This is a work that cannot be ignored by those studying late Ottoman history and in particular how nationalism impacted the empire's subjects."

—Roberto Mazza, H-Net

"In Shattered Dreams of Revolution: From Liberty to Violence in the Late Ottoman Empire, historian Bedross Der Matossian addresses the fraught ethnic relations that played a significant role in the failure of the Ottoman constitutional experiment . . . Der Matossian has sought out primary sources—including newspapers, political communications, speeches, and religious sermons—which help to paint a picture of late Ottoman society unavailable in official repositories like the Ottoman Archives . . . Der Matossian's ambitious project breaks sharply from the 'microhistorical' approach employed by many scholars of the period . . . These parallels make Shattered Dreams of Revolution essential to a sober and honest understanding of the Middle East in the 20th century—and in the 21st."

—Sam Taylor, Business Insider

"The sad fate of revolutions, from moments of euphoria and hope through the descent into authoritarianism, has seldom been told as persuasively as in this unique book. Bedross Der Matossian offers the stories of three peoples—Armenians, Arabs, and Jews—who greeted the 1908 Young Turk revolution with joy and optimism, only to find their expectations of liberation and modernity quickly turn into disillusion and brutal bloodletting."

—Ronald Grigor Suny, The University of Michigan

"Bedross Der Matossian explains with new historical evidence why and how the Young Turk revolution ultimately failed to attract Armenians, Jews, and Arabs to its cause. He makes a genuine contribution to our understanding of ethno-religious conflict and nationalism, suggesting interesting parallels with the failings of today's Middle East revolutions."

—Philip S. Khoury, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

"This is a masterly account of the Young Turk Revolution as experienced, understood, negotiated, and presented by different non-dominant ethno-religious groups (Arabs, Armenians, and Jews) that constituted part of the Ottoman conglomerate. By using wide-ranging sources, the book provides a wealth of fascinating insights and comparative intra-communal and cross-cultural analysis of the dramatic shift from 'the euphoria of the Revolution' to the fast ensuing disillusionment and deterioration of inter-communal relations. Few scholars have devised such a stimulating and a multi-vocal framework for understanding the post-1908 realities that shaped the last Ottoman decade. As such it represents a major contribution to the study of the Young Turk period and its impact on the non-dominant ethno-religious groups."

—Eyal Ginio, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem