Capital Development - Mandate Era Amman and the Construction of the Hashemite State (1921-1946)

‘With his book, Harrison Guthorn offers a fresh angle from which to explore the mandate years in Transjordan. He carefully and in great detail reconstructs the process through which the capital Amman became the focal point of the new political entity. His book is both an institutional history of Jordan and a good case study to examine the British colonial rule and official mind. It thus offers a valuable contribution to the historiography of Jordan, as well as to the surging literature on the League of Nations and the mandate system.’Yoav Alon, author of The Shaykh of Shaykhs: Mithqal al-Fayiz and Tribal Leadership in Modern Jordan; ‘As the product of a considerable amount of deep research into archival and secondary source materials, Capital Development makes a compelling argument about the centrality of Amman’s growth to Jordan’s history, both a city and a political capital. It constitutes a most welcome addition to the literature on Jordan as well as that on cities and urbanization in the modern Arab world.’Michael R. Fischbach, author of State, Society, and Land in Jordan.