During the 1930s, the Greek architect and writer Panos Tzelepis (1894-1976) recorded the memories and tales of Stavris, an older relative, who as a young man had lived amongst the underworld figures of late-19th century Istanbul. Realising the importance of these memoirs as a unique record of life during the final decades of the Ottoman Empire, Panos Tzelepis published them in two volumes, the first appearing in 1965 under the title "In the Time of the Sultans." In this first collection of urban chronicles we encounter colourful characters, from a Jewish doctor who treated the poor, the owner of a secret hash-den, the madam of a high-class brothel, to the lives of the kabadayi, or "tough guys," who developed their own codes of honour, conduct and social justice in the sprawling multi-cultural metropolis that was Istanbul towards the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th. Translated into English for the first time by Charles Howard, a prominent archiver and compiler of rebetiko music, Tzelepis's literary renderings of Istanbul and its people are given new life in a book brimming with intricate and dazzling details of a world that has long since vanished.

From the founding of the Ottoman dynasty by Osman Gazi to Suleyman the Magnificent's legendary territorial conquests, the legacy of the 36 Ottoman sultans has undeniably left its mark throughout the course of history. Featuring exquisite portraits and lavishly decorated caftans, this large-format volume beautifully presents imagery that speaks to the magnificence of the Ottoman Empire and its powerful sultans. AUTHOR: Professor Nurhan Atasoy completed her PhD in Fine Arts and Art History in 1962 at Istanbul University. She currently serves as the resident scholar at the Turkish Cultural Foundation, where she regularly gives lectures on Turkish art. Professor Atasoy is a founder and board member of the Association of the Museum of Painting and Sculpture in Istanbul; KÜSAV (Foundation for the Promotion and Preservation of Culture and Art Works); and TAÇ (Foundation for the Preservation of Monuments, Environment and Tourism in Turkey). She has lectured on Turkish and Islamic art at congresses throughout the world; curated international exhibitions; and has published over 100 articles and 22 books on the subject, including Iznik: Ottoman Pottery of Turkey, (1989); IPEK: Imperial Ottoman Silks and Velvets (2001); and Impressions of Ottoman Culture in Europe (2012). 74 illustrations

The Arabic culinary tradition burst onto the scene in the middle of the tenth century, when al-Warrāq compiled a culinary treatise titled al-Kitab al-Tabikh (The Book of Dishes) containing over 600 recipes. It would take another three and half centuries for cookery books to be produced in the European continent. Until then, gastronomic writing remained the sole preserve of the Arab-Muslim world, with cooking manuals and recipe books being written from Baghdad, Aleppo and Egypt in the East, to Muslim Spain, Morocco and Tunisia in the West. A total of nine complete cookery books have survived from this time, containing nearly three thousand recipes. First published in the fifteenth century, The Sultan's Feast by the Egyptian Ibn Mubārak Shāh features more than 330 recipes, from bread-making and savoury stews, to sweets, pickling and aromatics, as well as tips on a range of topics. This culinary treatise reveals the history of gastronomy in Arab culture. Available in English for the first time, this critical bilingual volume offers a unique insight into the world of medieval Arabic gastronomic writing.

The Ottoman Empire was a hub of flourishing intellectual fervor, geopolitical power, and enlightened pluralistic rule. At the helm of its ascent was the omnipotent Sultan Selim I (1470-1520), who, with the aid of his extraordinarily gifted mother, Gülbahar, hugely expanded the empire, propelling it onto the world stage. Aware of centuries of European suppression of Islamic history, Alan Mikhail centers Selim's Ottoman Empire and Islam as the very pivots of global history, redefining such world-changing events as Christopher Columbus's voyages - which originated, in fact, as a Catholic jihad that would come to view Native Americans as somehow "Moorish" - the Protestant Reformation, the transatlantic slave trade, and the dramatic Ottoman seizure of the Middle East and North Africa. Drawing on previously unexamined sources and written in gripping detail, Mikhail's groundbreaking account vividly recaptures Selim's life and world. An historical masterwork, God's Shadow radically reshapes our understanding of a world we thought we knew.A leading historian of his generation, Alan Mikhail, Professor of History and Chair of the Department of History at Yale University, has reforged our understandings of the past through his previous three prize-winning books on the history of Middle East.

This is an English translation of a critical portrait of the Ottoman capital of Istanbul during the days of the Sultan Abd al-Hamid.

The rise of the modern Middle East from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire.

Wonderfully well researched . . . engrossing, enlightening' The Hindu The Delhi Sultanate period (1206-1526) is commonly portrayed as an age of chaos and violence-of plundering kings, turbulent dynasties, and the aggressive imposition of Islam on India. But it was also the era that saw the creation of a pan-Indian empire, on the foundations of which the Mughals and the British later built their own Indian empires. The encounter between Islam and Hinduism also transformed, among other things, India's architecture, literature, music and food. Abraham Eraly brings this fascinating period vividly alive, combining erudition with powerful storytelling, and analysis with anecdote.