“This is a serious history, yet an immensely readable one—informative, gossipy, and grand fun.”

—New York Times Book Review

“This beautiful book … stimulates the mind as well as the eye”

—Chicago Sun-Times

“An alluring invitation into the labyrinthine corridors of the Turkish harem.”

—San Francisco Chronicle

About Harem: The World Behind the Veil, 25th Anniversary Edition

In this fascinating illustrated history—a worldwide best seller—Alev Lytle Croutier explores life in the world’s harems, from the Middle Ages to the early twentieth century, focusing on the fabled Seraglio of Topkapi Palace as a paradigm for them all. We enter the slave markets and the lavish boudoirs of the sultanas; we witness the daily routines of the odalisques, and of the eunuchs who guarded the harem.

Drawing on her own family history, Croutier also reveals the marital customs, child-rearing practices, and pastimes of “middle-class” harems, the women’s quarters of ordinary—albeit often polygamous—households. Finally, she shows us how the Eastern idea of the harem invaded the European imagination—in the form of decoration, costume, and art—and how Western ideas, in turn, finally eroded a system that had seemed eternal.

This revised and updated 25th Anniversary Edition of Harem includes a new introduction by the author, revisiting her subject in light of recent events in Turkey, and the world.

About the Author

Alev Lytle Croutier is the author of Taking the Waters (Abbeville) and three critically acclaimed novels, The Palace of Tears, Seven Houses, and Leyla: The Black Tulip. Born in Turkey, Croutier studied at Oberlin College and founded the publishing company Mercury House.

Harem is also available in paperback.

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