Book excerpt: Like other regions within the Ottoman Empire, Palestine at the turn of the nineteenth century underwent extensive economic and social changes. These encompassed the demography, society and economics of the various ecological groups of the population. The articles in this volume present different aspects of this long and complex process. They fall thematically into four groups. The first, which includes articles by U.O. Schmelz and Ruth Kark, focuses on demographic and urban developments. the second, with articles by Ya'akov Firestone and Yossi Ben-Artzi, offers various views of changes in the village and in agriculture in Palestine. The third part, containing articles by Shmuel Avitsur, Walter Pinhas Pick, Nachum T. Gross and Alex Carmel, covers several areas in the historical development of the industrial and services branches. Finally, the articles in the fourth section, by Oded Peri, Gabriel Baer and Clinton Bailey, examine questions in the sphere of fiscal developments. Included are studies on Arab and Jewish as well as nomadic, rural and urban societies. The consequences of economic activity in the private and public sectors and of local and foreign entrepreneurs are examined. In several articles the authros trace the changes that occurred in traditional insitutions such as the Muslim waqf, while others focus on the introduction of the new economic institutions such as the modern bank and railway.