Slavery and Abolition in the Ottoman Middle East (Publications on the Near East) [Paperback]

Ehud R. Toledano (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1997 | Series: Publications on the Near East

In the Ottoman Empire, many members of the ruling elite were legally slaves of the sultan and therefore could, technically, be ordered to surrender their labor, their property, or their lives at any moment. Nevertheless, slavery provided a means of social mobility, conferring status and political power within the military, the bureaucracy, or the domestic household and formed an essential part of patronage networks.Ehud R. Toledano's exploration of slavery from the Ottoman viewpoint is based on extensive research in British, French, and Turkish archives and offers rich, original, and important insights into Ottoman life and thought. In an attempt to humanize the narrative and take it beyond the plane of numbers, tables and charts, Toledano examines the situations of individuals representing the principal realms of Ottoman slavery, female harem slaves, the sultan's military and civilian kuls, court and elite eunuchs, domestic slaves, Circassian agricaultural slaves, slave dealers, and slave owners. "Slavery and Abolition in the Ottoman Middle East" makes available new and significantly revised studies on nineteenth-century Middle Eastern slavery and suggests general approaches to the study of slavery in different cultures.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: University of Washington Press (July 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 029597642X
• ISBN-13: 978-0295976426
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,604,528 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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7 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars iddo toledano, July 11, 2001

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Slavery and Abolition in the Ottoman Middle East (Publications on the Near East) (Paperback)

Hello, my name is iddo toledano and i truely recomend this book not only because my dad wrote it. it is very informative, and therefore is a great book to study from. In conclusion, this would be a great addition to any reader's library.

Sincerely,

Iddo R. Toledano

5 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Facts with wrong conclusion, July 22, 2002

By 

Muzaffer Muctehitzade "hacibey" (Boston, Ma USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Slavery and Abolition in the Ottoman Middle East (Publications on the Near East) (Paperback)

Author is certainly trying to create a subject for himself. He is trying to identify what he calls kul/harem and agricultural serfdom with slavery in the West. He never compares the conditions of the slaves in the west with his classification of slaves in Ottoman Empire, kul/harem subjects, what I call "adopted persons" or "willing to serve for better future" like volunteers in government offices or adoptive children. He can not count more than two digit persons as "slaves" in the Ottoman Empire while in the west it goes up to millions. He does not compare the conditions of the slaves in the west with conditions of those kul/harem that is far better than most of the Ottoman subjects. He does not see the difference that agricultural servants in Ottoman Empire were kick out by the Russians from Russia yet those in the West were captured. Although he states that most of the families were racing to give away their sons and daughters to so called slavery in Ottoman Empire yet in the West they were hunted. He concludes that lack of study of slavery in Muslim countries is due to political correctness in the west, which is a joke when they make all kinds of studies to tear apart the Holy Qur'an. In summary the information is correct for they can be verified from sources but I totally disagree with the conclusion and especially that there is a cover up.