Lives and Deaths of Jubrail Dabdoub

Jacob Norris is Senior Lecturer in Middle Eastern History at the University of Sussex. He is the author of Land of Progress: Palestine in the Age of Colonial Development, 1905–1948 (2013) and codeveloper of the website Planet Bethlehem.

• Introduction1. Of a land called Amerka, Or how ammo Hanna was saved by al-Khadr2. Of the hallowed ridge, Or how Jubrail learned to profit from Christmas3. Of Jubrail's forebears, Or the toils of Yousef and Rosa4. In which Bethlehem gets a new street5. Of unruly markets and underwater ships6. Of sunken eyes in a casket, Or how Bethlehem came to be covered in dust7. Of mechanical wonders on near and distant shores8. In search of Amerka9. Of troubles on the Trocadero10. Of the decline of Hosh Dabdoub, Or how Jubrail's schooling came in useful11. Of a street named Rosario12. By the truth of al-Khadr, I went and came back!13. Of white cities and bronze medals14. Of fertility potions and the dizzying heights of success15. Of weeping icons, ghostly armies and visions of the Virgin16. Of the enchanted palaces of Bethlehem17. Of hyenas, serpents and French philanthropists18. Of the resurrection of Jubrail DabdoubEpilogueAuthor's Commentary

"Jacob Norris has pioneered a fresh way to write of Middle Eastern migrants and their peregrinations across space, time, and culture. His wonderfully engrossing use of magical realism cum history allows us to more intimately understand how they navigated and found success in a bewilderingly changing world."—Akram Khater, author of Inventing Home "The Lives and Deaths of Jubrail Dabdoub is a most original treatise on local knowledge—a story of donkeys, suitcases and miracles, and the saga of Bethlehem merchant families moving between Palestine and the Americas. Jacob Norris weaves an astute combination of historical discourse and magical realism."—Salim Tamari, The Jerusalem Quarterly "Norris' book is an impressive work that offers a captivating glimpse into the history and lifeworld of Bethlehemites in the late 19th century, as he masterfully balances history and fiction to create a hybrid form that is both imaginative and informative."—Karim Kattan, The Markaz Review "Using a range of sources—the nun's notebooks, parish records, interviews with descendants of the Bethlehem merchants who were active at the turn of the century, memoirs written during those years, other supplemental material to provide context, and his imagination—Norris has written an account that brings to life a town on the cusp of transformation and a population that bravely stepped into the unknown to secure their fortunes."—Ida Audeh, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs "In a captivating retelling of Bethlehem's late nineteenth-century emigration boom and its age of economic and saintly miracles, The Lives and Deaths of Jubrail Dabdoub pushes the boundaries of historical writing to offer a fresh perspective on the interplay between commerce, religion, and migration in Palestine's pioneering hill town."—Eibhlin Priestley, Jerusalem Quarterly