Based on archival research, this work examines the Ottoman ancien regime. The author argues that the success of the regime was due to the articulation of a complex financial network revolving around central state elite investments and an Istanbul-based and supervised banking system.

Previous edition published under the title Redeeming the dream: the case for marriage equality.

Explains how to do practical and improbable things, such as how to roast an ox, handle a hamster, photography a fish, play the bagpipes, and vanquish a vampire.].

Social surplus -- Alternative institutions of accumulation: gaining financial resources -- Alternative institutions of accumulation: building assets in the community -- Constraining capital -- Creating public assets -- Collective action, communities and social change.