Book cover of As Night Falls: Eighteenth-Century Ottoman Cities after Dark by Avner Wishnitzer
History

As Night Falls: Eighteenth-Century Ottoman Cities after Dark

In a world that is constantly awake, illuminated and exposed, there is much to gain from looking into the darkness of times past. This fascinating and vivid picture of nocturnal life in Middle Eastern cities shows that the night in the eighteenth-century Ottoman Empire created unique conditions for economic, criminal, political, devotional and leisurely pursuits that were hardly possible during the day. Offering the possibility of livelihood and brotherhood, pleasure and refuge; the darkness allowed confiding, hiding and conspiring – activities which had far-reaching consequences on Ottoman state and society in the early modern period. […Learn More]