Lives Between The Lines: A Journey in Search of the Lost Levant

by Michael Vatikiotis

Overview

In Lives Between the Lines, Michael Vatikiotis traces the journey of his Greek and Italian forebears from Tuscany, Crete, Hydra and Rhodes, as they made their way to Egypt and the coast of Palestine in search of opportunity. In the process, he reveals a period where the Middle East was a place of ethnic and cultural harmony - where Arabs and Jews rubbed shoulders in bazaars and teashops, intermarried and shared family history.

While lines were eventually drawn and people, including Vatikiotis's family, found themselves caught between clashing faiths, contested identities and violent conflict, this intimate and sweeping memoir is a paean to tolerance, offering a nuanced understanding of the lost Levant.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781474613217
Publisher:	Orion Publishing Group
Publication date:	12/06/2022
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.75(h) x 0.87(d)

About the Author

Michael Vatikiotis is a graduate of the School of Oriental and African Studies in London and gained his doctorate from the University of Oxford. He is a member of the Asia Society's International Council and has a decade of experience working as a private diplomat and conflict mediator for the Geneva-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue. Prior to that he worked as a journalist in Asia for thirty years, living in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong. He is the author of two previous books on the politics of Southeast Asia and is based in Singapore.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations xi

Maps xiii

Family Trees xv

Timeline xvii

Part I Pioneers 1

Prelude: 'Alia Franga': The Ottoman Pocket Watch 3

Chapter 1 Piercing the Sands 7

Chapter 2 Grand Hotel de la Poste 28

Chapter 3 The Khedive's Gold 47

Chapter 4 Blue Bricks by the Nile 66

Chapter 5 Baba Yannis Settles in Acre 91

Chapter 6 Brother Maximos in a Cave 111

Part II The Rupture 131

Chapter 7 Philby's Batman 133

Chapter 8 Among Arabs and Jews 152

Chapter 9 Rommel at the Gates 171

Chapter 10 End of Days in Palestine 195

Chapter 11 Dispersal and Desolation 215

Chapter 12 The Suez Syndrome 236

Epilogue 256

Notes 258

Acknowledgements 271

Index 274

Editorial Reviews

Lives Between the Lines is the moving and beautifully written story of a journey to explore [Vatikiotis's] identity by visiting the places - primarily Egypt and Israel - in which several generations of his Levantine ancestors made their homes. As well as being a highly personal family-memoir-cum-travelogue, it is a paean to tolerance between diverse faiths and different communities at a time when much of the Middle East is being consumed by bigotry, fanaticism and sectarian violence—FINANCIAL TIMES

Lives Between the Lines is the moving and beautifully written story of a journey to explore [Vatikiotis's] identity by visiting the places - primarily Egypt and Israel - in which several generations of his Levantine ancestors made their homes. As well as being a highly personal family-memoir-cum-travelogue, it is a paean to tolerance between diverse faiths and different communities at a time when much of the Middle East is being consumed by bigotry, fanaticism and sectarian violence—FINANCIAL TIMES

Vatikiotis's pen portraits left me wanting more of this amazing cast of characters. For the family are bit-part players in what is in fact a potted history of the late Levant, living proofs in his view of the Ottoman Empire's enlightened approach to minority cultures . . . Vatikiotis's final two chapters describe and acknowledge the ambiguities consequent on Britain's eventual imperial retreat and the region's expulsions of foreigners - British, Jewish, Greek, Italian alike. They are easily the finest and worth the cover price alone . . . fascinating—THE TIMES

Vatikiotis's pen portraits left me wanting more of this amazing cast of characters. For the family are bit-part players in what is in fact a potted history of the late Levant, living proofs in his view of the Ottoman Empire's enlightened approach to minority cultures . . . Vatikiotis's final two chapters describe and acknowledge the ambiguities consequent on Britain's eventual imperial retreat and the region's expulsions of foreigners - British, Jewish, Greek, Italian alike. They are easily the finest and worth the cover price alone . . . fascinating—THE TIMES

Vatikiotis is quietly opinionated, a quality which makes him an admirable guide for this evocation of an era - a journey of personal discovery, where, despite complexities, everything stands neatly in historical and topographical context

—SPECTATOR

Vatikiotis is quietly opinionated, a quality which makes him an admirable guide for this evocation of an era - a journey of personal discovery, where, despite complexities, everything stands neatly in historical and topographical context

—SPECTATOR

[A] human and fascinating insider view of Levantine families in the mid-twentieth century—TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

[A] human and fascinating insider view of Levantine families in the mid-twentieth century—TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

A brilliant evocation of an era when the Middle East was a haven of peace and prosperity for people fleeing Europe. Lives Between the Lines interweaves a fascinating family history with a portrait of a lost world - which has many echoes and lessons for today

A brilliant evocation of an era when the Middle East was a haven of peace and prosperity for people fleeing Europe. Lives Between the Lines interweaves a fascinating family history with a portrait of a lost world - which has many echoes and lessons for today

From the Publisher