General introduction; Time, language, mind and freedom: the Arabic Nahda in four words Jens Hanssen and Max Weiss; Part I. The Legacies of Albert Hourani: 1. Albert Hourani and the making of modern Middle East studies in the English-speaking world: a personal memoir Roger Owen; 2. Albert's world: historicism, liberal imperialism and the struggle for Palestine, 1936-48 Jens Hanssen; Part II. The Expansion of the Political Imagination: 3. Debating political community in the age of reform, rebellion and empire, 1780-1820 Dina Rizk Khoury; 4. The question of the Ottoman caliphate in global Muslim political thought, 1774-1914 Cemil Aydin; 5. From rule of law to constitutionalism: Arab political thought in its Ottoman context, 1808-1908 Thomas Philipp; Part III. Means and Ends of the Nahda Experiment: 6. Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq (1804-87): the quest for another modernity Fawwaz Traboulsi; 7. Liberal thought and the 'problem' of women: 1890s Cairo Marilyn Booth; 8. 'Illiberal' thought in the liberal age: Yusuf al-Nabhani (1849-1932), dream-stories and the polemics against the modern era Amal Ghazal; Part IV. The Persistence of the Nahda: 9. Participation and critique: Arab intellectuals respond to the 'Ottoman revolution' Thomas Philipp; 10. Men of capital: making money, making nation in Palestine Sherene Seikaly; 11. The demise of 'the Liberal age'? 'Abbas Mahmud al-'Aqqad and Egyptian responses to Fascism during World War II Israel Gershoni; Part V. The Afterlives of the Nahda in Comparative Perspective: 12. Indian and Arabic thought in the liberal age C. A. Bayly; 13. The autumn of the Nahda in light of the Arab spring: some figures in the carpet Leyla Dakhli; Epilogue; 14. The legacies of Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age Rashid Khalidi.