In this groundbreaking book Ilham Khuri-Makdisi establishes the existence of a special radical trajectory spanning four continents and linking Beirut Cairo and Alexandria between 1860 and 1914. She shows that socialist and anarchist ideas were regularly discussed disseminated and reworked among intellectuals workers dramatists Egyptians Ottoman Syrians ethnic Italians Greeks and many others in these cities. In situating the Middle East within the context of world history Khuri-Makdisi challenges nationalist and elite narratives of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern history as well as Eurocentric ideas about global radical movements. The book demonstrates that these radical trajectories played a fundamental role in shaping societies throughout the world and offers a powerful rethinking of Ottoman intellectual and social history.