Violent Interests: Capitalism and Social Transformation in the Eastern Mediterranean by Kristen Alff examines how capitalism reshaped the Eastern Mediterranean (specifically Beirut) from the 1830s to the 1930s, focusing on the interplay between local entrepreneurs and Western European capital, the reorganization of land, labor, and gender, and the role of war (especially WWI) in solidifying this new social order.The book argues that the drive for capital accumulation subjugated social relations, transforming the region in ways that persisted long after the Ottoman Empire's collapse.