The conclusion summarizes the primary argument and contributions of the book. It recounts how book’s findings—especially those about how early reforms that embedded religious elites in (as opposed to excluded them from) nascent state structures through institutional layering and piecemeal cooptation ultimately facilitated the expansion of state sovereignty—stand in stark contrast to generally accepted ideas about modernization, which posit a direct link between “secularization” (defined as the separation of religion and state) and the other processes of state-centralization and development. The chapter ends by highlighting the book’s cross-disciplinary contributions, including revisionist interpretations of post Ottoman history, insights into the study of state formation, a critique on the concept of secularization, contributions to the study of nationalism, methodological lessons about pathways of institutional change, and contemporary lessons about how to forge modern societies buttressed against both extremism and collapse.