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By Root 1052 0

for I had not yet known any others,” she says. Many of us may think of the Grand Harem of Topkapı Palace as the only secluded enclave of women, but in fact every well-off household of the Ottoman Empire had a harem. And Croutier discovered that physical and spiritual isolation of women, and polygamy, weren’t unique to Turkey. This is a thoroughly fascinating work, profusely illustrated with color and black-and-white photographs and reproductions of paintings.

Letters, by Mary Wortley Montagu (Everyman’s Library, 1992). Mary Wortley Montagu wrote to her sister that her letters would one day be as valuable as those of Madame de Sévigné, and indeed our knowledge of eighteenth-century Constantinople would be vastly lacking were it not for her prolific pen. Of all the topics she wrote about in her Turkish embassy letters, perhaps the most scandalous was her visit to a hamam, in 1717; she was the first European woman on record ever to have done so. There weren’t many details of life in Constantinople that escaped Montagu’s eye—but the hamam was a feature of Orientalism that, according to Cornucopia Magazine, “proved to be imaginatively much more powerful than the truth. No matter how much Lady Mary extolled the realities of the Ottoman Empire, and how everyday life did not correspond to the preconceptions of the West, the romantic impulse was stronger than the fact.”

Looking for Osman: One Man’s Travels Through the Paradox of Modern Turkey, by Eric Lawlor (Vintage, 1993). Lawlor’s new friend in Istanbul, Selim, tells him, “Turkey is tired of being unique. We want to raise our living standards. Exoticism! What a dumb reason to go anywhere.” Though Istanbul’s distinctive character eluded Lawlor initially, a student who worked in the hotel he was staying at gave him a tip: you have to look in the right places, and for a start, try the Grand Bazaar. The bazaar was the ticket, and it’s fair to say that the rest of Turkey surprised and astonished him.

Lords of the Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire, by Jason Goodwin (Picador, 1998). “This book is about a people who do not exist,” states Goodwin in his prologue. “The word ‘Ottoman’ does not describe a place. Nobody nowadays speaks their language. Only a few professors can begin to understand their poetry—‘We have no classics,’ snapped a Turkish poet in 1964 at a poetry symposium in Sofia, when asked to acquaint the group with examples of classical Ottoman verse.” At 352 pages, this is also a great bring-along title, and it reads much like a novel. Each chapter head and section break features emblems of various Janissary regiments, which were taken from Marsigli, Stato Militare dell’Impero Ottomano (published at The Hague in 1732).

Great Reads for Kids

The Turks extend a warm welcome to children and include them in nearly every event or gathering—so bring them along! The way I see it, parents can make the decision never to go anywhere and deprive both children and adults of a priceless experience, or they can plan an itinerary with kids in mind and take off on a new journey. I haven’t yet found a source exclusively devoted to traveling with kids in Turkey, but parents will find some useful tips and words of advice in guidebooks. Some good tips can also be gathered from Web sites: mylifeguard-forhealth.com and travelwithyourkids.com. And for a really ambitious account, read One Year Off: Leaving It All Behind for a Round-the-World Journey with Our Children, by David Elliott Cohen (Simon & Schuster, 1999). It’s always a good idea to build excitement in advance of the trip by involving kids in the planning, showing them maps and books and talking about the things you’ll see and do. Below are some recommended books for reading in advance or bringing along:

And to Think That We Thought That We’d Never Be Friends, by Mary Ann Hoberman and illustrated by Kevin Hawkes (Dragonfly, 2003). Nothing whatsoever to do with Turkey, but I love it for its underlying message of learning about other people and celebrating the world’s diversity.

Cybele’s Secret, by Juliet Marillier (Knopf,