Ehud R. Toledano, Slavery and Abolition in the Ottoman Middle East. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1998. ix + 185 pp. $18.00 paper.

Abstract

As a renowned scholar of the Ottoman slave trade and of the Egyptian state– society relations during the Ottoman centuries, Ehud Toledano, in this new book, offers us his synthesis of the available knowledge on Ottoman slavery. Along the way he attempts to put the question of Ottoman slavery into a larger world-historical context and debate. He dissects the different forms of slavery in the Ottoman Empire in order to understand the relations that emerged from these forms and then attempts informed comparisons with other historical contexts of slavery. This review will provide some guidelines to reading the book and then discuss the themes that Professor Toledano himself presents as key markers.