Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
Only wish it were longer and maybe a little less personal. A miracle in a second hand bookshop, this is the kind of semi-coffee table book I'd probably never pick up at full price.
A pleasant and interesting read, but a little disappointing for its occasional indulgence in Orientalist pandering.
fast-paced
Disclaimer: ARC via Netgalley.
If you go to most art museums in the Western world, you can find at least one, if not more, paintings that depict a European man’s view of the Eastern harem. While beautiful, these paintings will depict various women in various states of undress, usually lying around doing nothing besides looking pretty. Sometimes, there might be a painting that depicts a man alongside them, usually suggestive of post-coital glow or tied to 1001 Arabian Nights.
And that’s not even touching the movies.
Alev Lytle Croutier’s book about harems is far more interesting than those man fancy pieces. In part, this is because the author is able to draw on her family’s interactions with various people who were connected to harems. Croutier goes into, briefly, the beginnings of the harem tradition, and divide her book up into royal harem life, ordinary harem life, as well as looking at how art and film, in particular in the West, viewed the harem. Perhaps the books major flaw is the focus on Turkish harem, but considering the writer’s background this is not surprising.
The personal stories, for instance her meeting a eunuch, add a layer to the book as well as serving as a reminder that this lifestyle is not far removed from the present day. This is balanced though the use of historical harem women and the battles they fought, whether between themselves or with the men who control them.
It isn’t only the dispelling of myths that surround harem women that Croutier attends to; she also dispels myths about the eunuchs. Of particular interest is the division of eunuch jobs based on skin color (and I wish there had been some analysis of why there was such a division) but also what a eunuch’s life could be like. It is here that Croutier does bring in Chinese harem life in addition to Turkish.
There is also a wonderful bit about Lady Mary Montagu.
This is a wonderful history read.
If you go to most art museums in the Western world, you can find at least one, if not more, paintings that depict a European man’s view of the Eastern harem. While beautiful, these paintings will depict various women in various states of undress, usually lying around doing nothing besides looking pretty. Sometimes, there might be a painting that depicts a man alongside them, usually suggestive of post-coital glow or tied to 1001 Arabian Nights.
And that’s not even touching the movies.
Alev Lytle Croutier’s book about harems is far more interesting than those man fancy pieces. In part, this is because the author is able to draw on her family’s interactions with various people who were connected to harems. Croutier goes into, briefly, the beginnings of the harem tradition, and divide her book up into royal harem life, ordinary harem life, as well as looking at how art and film, in particular in the West, viewed the harem. Perhaps the books major flaw is the focus on Turkish harem, but considering the writer’s background this is not surprising.
The personal stories, for instance her meeting a eunuch, add a layer to the book as well as serving as a reminder that this lifestyle is not far removed from the present day. This is balanced though the use of historical harem women and the battles they fought, whether between themselves or with the men who control them.
It isn’t only the dispelling of myths that surround harem women that Croutier attends to; she also dispels myths about the eunuchs. Of particular interest is the division of eunuch jobs based on skin color (and I wish there had been some analysis of why there was such a division) but also what a eunuch’s life could be like. It is here that Croutier does bring in Chinese harem life in addition to Turkish.
There is also a wonderful bit about Lady Mary Montagu.
This is a wonderful history read.
The first half of the book is good but the rest was quite boring and it took me a while to finish it.
informative
medium-paced
This is a really good reference on harems in general and more specifically the harem of the Grand Seraglio/Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. I have read several books and articles on harems and captivity in the early modern Mediterranean and all that I read in Croutier's book did align with other resources. Croutier's view is from a first-person perspective, as a descendent of women involved with the harem in Istanbul. Their exact relationship with the harem did not seem to be completely clear. Croutier goes into detail to describe the women and men that were a part of the Grand Seraglio, what their positions were, details about their work and life, as well as describing the Sultans and Sultanas, the physical structure of the Topkapi Palace, and the decline of the practice of harems. It is a very interesting and eye-opening book that takes away the mysterious, secretive life of the women of harems. It is full of pictures and artwork that Croutier uses as part of her resources...but there is the downside of the book...resources.
It is fair to say that Croutier uses a large amount of primary and secondary sources for her book, the problem is, you don't know what they are. No footnotes, endnotes, etc. There is a bibliography but there are no specific citations that coincide with the narrative. Croutier does mention some sources within her narrative, but I don't know what comes from her first-hand knowledge passed through her ancestors and what is gleaned from other sources.
All in all, I think it is a very good resource if you want to know more about harems, you just have to dig through her bibliography if you want to dive deeper into the subject.
It is fair to say that Croutier uses a large amount of primary and secondary sources for her book, the problem is, you don't know what they are. No footnotes, endnotes, etc. There is a bibliography but there are no specific citations that coincide with the narrative. Croutier does mention some sources within her narrative, but I don't know what comes from her first-hand knowledge passed through her ancestors and what is gleaned from other sources.
All in all, I think it is a very good resource if you want to know more about harems, you just have to dig through her bibliography if you want to dive deeper into the subject.
Fascinating
This book is so interesting to read. I've always been interested in the topic, and as someone, who only ever read stories about harems, was immediately drawn to this book, since it's written by someone with first hand experience.
The book held up to what it promised. Extremely interesting insights into harem life, the history behind them, and the elements included. Absolutely fascinating.
This book is so interesting to read. I've always been interested in the topic, and as someone, who only ever read stories about harems, was immediately drawn to this book, since it's written by someone with first hand experience.
The book held up to what it promised. Extremely interesting insights into harem life, the history behind them, and the elements included. Absolutely fascinating.
informative
reflective
fast-paced
When I saw that in celebration of its 25th birthday Harem was available on Netgalley I knew I wanted to dip into it right away. One of the first books written on the topic, Croutier invites the reader into one of the world's most secretive and mysterious secrets: the harem. Combining personal childhood memory with intense research, I'm very glad I got my hands on Harem. Thanks to Abbeville Press and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The idea of the harem is one that has intrigued me and Western culture for a very long time. Orientalism, that complete and utter appropriation of Eastern culture by the West, definitely took the image of the harem and ran with it, imprinting its own repressed sexuality on it. Even though everyone has a picture of what a harem is, most people actually hardly know anything about it. In that sense Croutier's book was a gift 25 years and still is. Croutier discusses almost everything that one would wish to know about the harems throughout the Middle-East but especially focuses on the harem in the palace of Topkapi in Istanbul. The text, as such, jumps about quite a lot, occasionally seeming to move randomly from one topic to the other but Croutier manages to make all them somehow fit together.
I really enjoyed reading Harem, Croutier absolutely caught my attention and I feel much more informed, and chastised, in my opinion about harems. I'd recommend this to anyone who is interested in History and Gender.
For full review: http://universeinwords.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/review-harem-behind-lifted-veil-by-alev.html
The idea of the harem is one that has intrigued me and Western culture for a very long time. Orientalism, that complete and utter appropriation of Eastern culture by the West, definitely took the image of the harem and ran with it, imprinting its own repressed sexuality on it. Even though everyone has a picture of what a harem is, most people actually hardly know anything about it. In that sense Croutier's book was a gift 25 years and still is. Croutier discusses almost everything that one would wish to know about the harems throughout the Middle-East but especially focuses on the harem in the palace of Topkapi in Istanbul. The text, as such, jumps about quite a lot, occasionally seeming to move randomly from one topic to the other but Croutier manages to make all them somehow fit together.
I really enjoyed reading Harem, Croutier absolutely caught my attention and I feel much more informed, and chastised, in my opinion about harems. I'd recommend this to anyone who is interested in History and Gender.
For full review: http://universeinwords.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/review-harem-behind-lifted-veil-by-alev.html