Introduction: Myths and Realities of the Harem
Part I: The Politics of Reproduction
1. The House of Osman
2. Wives and Concubines: The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries
3. The Age of the Favorite: 1520-1566
4. The Age of the Queen Mother: 1566-1656
5. The Imperial Harem Institution
Part II. Women and Sovereign Power
6. Shifting Images of Ottoman Sovereignty
7. The Display of Sovereign Prerogative
8. The Politics of Diplomacy
9. The Exercise of Political Power
Conclusion: Women, Sovereignty, and Society
Appendix: Genealogical Charts
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Leslie P. Peirce is Professor of History and Near Eastern Studies, University of California, Berkeley.
"The harem described in Leslie P. Peirce's fascinating book is not
the lascivious sexual playground conceived by the Western
imagination but the locus of power in the Ottoman empire....The
general thesis of this outstanding book--that the power wielded by
the women of the imperial harem was real, and that it stood in an
organic relation to broader Ottoman political traditions and
practice--will be widely accepted."--American Historical Review
"Peirce's work effectively reinforces recent work on the
post-Süleymanic period, while at the same time revising scholarship
about the imperial harem and the dynastic family. In doing so, her
book is a significant contribution to the field."--The
Historian
"The Imperial Harem is the definitive book on its subject. While it
is excellent reading for students of women's studies, it is an
important contribution to Ottoman history as well."--MESA
Bulletin
"A tour de force. Peirce has brought her detailed knowledge of
Ottoman harem politics to revise a fundamental question of Ottoman
historiography: how did the dynasty adjust to the transformation of
imperial ideology necessary in light of the regime's change from
aggressive expansion to stasis."--Carl F. Petry, Northwestern
University
"This is an excellent book, and a new departure in women's history
within the Islamic field. Peirce discusses women not as a class
apart, not as part of dynastic politics in the Ottoman Empire, thus
shedding new light on political processes, and showing women to be
an integral part of the dynasty."--Beatrice Manz, Tufts
University
"[A] monumental study....Peirce's facility in traversing boundaries
between the East and the West is striking....[an] invaluable
feminist study...of interest to students and scholars of history,
politics, and sociology as well as any feminist."--Signs
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