Customer Reviews

The Pursuit of Pleasure: Drugs and Stimulants in Iranian History, 1500-1900

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Much of what is written about Iran is still concerned with political history. The fact is that the historiography of Iran is still well behind that of Europe. Things that are now common when looking at European history are still unknown in the Iranian one. Annale School methods and other modern historiographic methods are virtually unknown.

Prof. Matthee's work, however, uses these methods very well. He uses the theme of narcotics and drinks to provide a picture of the Iranian hitory in the pre-modern era. He explains the role of the drinks such as coffee and tea in forming social institutions such as coffee houses, investigates the origins of instruments such as water-pipe, and argues for the role of the trade in coffee and drugs in connecting Iran to the rest of the world at the time, following the trace of Globalization in the pre-modern times. His book is both a gem of factual information, as well as a textbook of methodology.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Iranian history, but also to those interested in concepts of Global/World History, pre-Modern globalization and trade, pre-modern social history, as well as those looking for an excellent work of historical research and scholarship.

According to the author of this book, shah Abbas was born in harem and died as a result of alcohol. Next interesting point was that Qezel Bash smoked weed, eat human and drank booz. All in all, everyone in Iran was drunk, and eating human. I began to have my doubt about this book as a valid source of information.