Despite the fact that its capital city and over one third of its territory
were within the continent of Europe, the Ottoman Empire has consistently
been regarded as a place apart, inextricably divided from the West
by differences of culture and religion. Aperception of its militarism, its
barbarism, its tyranny, the sexual appetites of its rulers, and its pervasive
exoticism has led historians to measure the Ottoman world against
a western standard and find it lacking. In recent decades, a dynamic
and convincing scholarship has emerged that seeks to comprehend and,
in the process, to de-exoticize this enduring realm. Daniel Goffman
provides a thorough introduction to the history and institutions of the
Ottoman Empire from this new standpoint, and presents a claim for its
inclusion in Europe. His lucid and engaging book – an important addition
to New Approaches to European History – will be essential reading
for undergraduates.

DANIEL GOFFMAN is Professor of History at Ball State University. His
publications include Izmir and the Levantine world, 1550–1650 (Seattle,
WA, 1990), Britons in the Ottoman Empire, 1642–1660 (Seattle, WA,
1998) and The Ottoman Citybetween East and West: Aleppo, Izmir, and
Istanbul, with Edhem Eldem and Bruce Masters (Cambridge, 1999).
He is currently editor of the Middle East Studies Association Bulletin.