REVIEWS 761 ofthesetwoluminaries ofpost-colonial studies, althoughpersonally I have neverfoundthe meagrereturns warrantedthe effort involved.However, references to the work of Chris Bayly,surelythe leading historianof Europeanempirein Asia,are nowhereto be seen:hisEmpire andInformation inparticular might havegivenSahadeo a different and richer perspective on the relationship betweencolonialofficials hungry forknowledgeand local educatedelites.At timesin RussianColonial Society the urbanpolitics, petty disputes and angstoftheTashkentsettlers do seemto be taking place in a bubble,withlittle clearsenseofwhatwas goingon elsewhere in Turkestan, wherethepriorities ofRussianrulewerelargely military and thecollection of ruraltaxeswas thefocusoftheadministration. There are occasionalminor errorswhich are a consequenceof thisveryTashkent-focused view: the newspaperOkraina (pp. 5, 68) was publishedin Samarkand,not Tashkent, and although officially a privateenterprise itwas established in 1891by the Military Governorof the Samarkandoblast,Count Rostovtsov. Tashkent's fascinating and variedrelationships withthesurrounding steppenomadsand settled peasantsrather recedeintothebackground, exceptwhenSahadeo is describing thebrutalBolshevik foodrequisitions of1918-19(pp. 200-07).He himself acknowledges thatthereare toofewCentralAsianvoicesinhisbook, partlyowingto a lack of accessiblesources(a texteditionof the Ta3rikh-e Jadideh-ye Tashkand, Muhammad Salih Khwaja Tashkandi'slengthyearly twentieth-century Persianchronicle, would go some way to rectifying this). However,thefocusthroughout is on Russiansettler society and Sahadeo is verycareful notto makehasty judgements aboutlocal responses to thecolonialpresencepurelyon thebasisofRussianaccounts.Much moreresearch remains tobe doneon thehistory ofnineteenthand earlytwentieth-century CentralAsia, but Sahadeo's book is likelyto be a standardworkon the colonialperiodformanyyearsto come. University ofLiverpool Alexander Morrison AbrevayaStein,Sarah.Making Jews Modern: TheYiddish andLadino Press inthe Russian and Ottoman Empires. The ModernJewishExperience.Indiana University Press,Bloomington and Indianapolis,2004. xiii + 310 pp. Illustrations. Notes.Bibliography. Index.$24.95(paperback). Sarah Abrevaya Stein's masterful book is perhapsthe first studywhich combinesYiddishand Ladino sourcesin whatis a pioneering comparative approachtoJewish history. ScholarsofJewish history and culture tendto be experts in either Ashkenazi or Sephardiculture witha knowledge ofYiddish or Ladino,neverboth.Equally,therichpresssourcesofvernacular Jewish languageshave untilrecently been under-used byscholarsand itis stillrare forthepressto be themainfocusofresearch. Stein'sbook exploresthemannerin whichmodernity was discussedand understood byJewsin the European regionsof theRussianand Ottoman Empiresas evidencedin the vernacularpopular press. She chooses the 762 SEER, 88, 4, OCTOBER 2OIO first dailynewspapers in Yiddishand Ladino publishedin theRussianand OttomanEmpires(Derfiaynd, St Petersburg, Warsaw,1903-13and El tiempo, Constantinople, 18721930 )as a case study forexploring theimpactofsecular print culture on latenineteenth- /earlytwentieth-century Jews. Steinillustrates thecommonalities ofJewsin bothEmpireswhilepointing towards theirdifferences. Byjuxtaposing diverse Jewish populations invastly different territories whosuccumbtoa variety ofsimilar and different political and social circumstances, the authorcontributes to a re-assessment of our understanding ofdispersed Jewish populations and to an enlargement ofthe considerations of Jewish history.She poses questionswhich transgress the boundariesof nationstatesand empires,ethnic,nationaland cultural identities. The book is dividedintothreemain sectionswithtwochaptersin each section. The first section introduces theYiddishand Ladinopress;thesecond explores theusesofimagesinthepressand thelastsection discusses advertisingwithin thecontextofa modernizing economiclifewithin bothEmpires and amongJews.The chaptersin thebook alternate betweentheRussian Empire(Yiddish /Derfiaynd) and theOttomanEmpire(Ladino/El tiempo). Steinillustrates thedramaticgrowth oftheYiddishand Ladino popular presson the eve of the twentieth century, reflecting the largenumbersof Yiddishand Ladino speakers in bothEmpires.In theperiodunderscrutiny, theauthornotesattitudes ofLadino speakers whodescribed their languageas zfiirgonza (jargon), a bastardlanguageora dying language.Interestingly, these epithets precisely mirror earlierattitudes toYiddishexpressed byitsspeakers. Steinmaintains thatalthoughmostSouth-Eastern EuropeanSephardiJews weremostcomfortable usingLadino,theyweremoreinclinedto belittle the languagein favour oflookingtowards Western Europe,to Frenchculture in particular. The Yiddishspeakers oftheRussianEmpirefaroutnumbered the Ladino speakers and,forthem, Yiddishbegantodenotepolitical engagement and cultural renewal. The political and historical background ofbothempires and thecontexts in whichDerjraynd and El tiempo began and developedare expertly delineatedin thisbook. I would,however, have likedto have read moreaboutthecontent, natureand style ofthearticles in bothpapers. In SectionTwo, Steinpresents thegenreofcartoons toillustrate an increasingpoliticization of RussianJewsin their'oppositionpolities'and in their support ofRussiandemocratization. The reproductions ofthecartoons themselvesand Stein'spolitical and historical analyses arecaptivating. The growth and changesevident in thepopularpressare underlined bythereplacement ofthecartoongenrewiththeuse ofphotographs. The catastrophic events whichaccompanyphotographic imagesrenderthecartoonimageslightand flippant bycomparison. Steinconveys theimportance ofthepressinboththe reflection and production ofmodernizing attitudes. Importantly, theauthor in the interpreting of her materialsuggests thatthe politicalstanceof the publications sheexaminesis morefluidthanimagined, as is thecase among thenewspaper readersofthetime. When examiningthe visual cultureof the Ladino press,Stein explores theinstructional materialdesignedto educateand to modernizetheJewish REVIEWS 763 population.We see and read materialpertaining to child-rearing, hygiene, concernsofwomenand naturalsciences.Women werefrequently a target audiencein theseareas whichwas notthecase fortheYiddishpress.Stein acknowledges thatmuchofthisinstructional material was drawnfrom French and Englishsources(one cannothelp but be curiousabout the natureof similareducationalmaterialsin the earlyYiddishpress).Stein'sselections providegreatinsight intothecultural patterns and affiliations enlisted forand bytheOttoman Jews. Making Jews Modern is a majorcontribution toan understanding ofmodern...