List of Illustrations ix Note on Transliteration xi Preface xiii Abbreviations xviii Introduction 1 Part I: Safavid Period Chapter 1: General Overview: Iran between 1500 and 1900 17 Chapter 2: Wine in Safavid Iran I: Between Excess and Abstention 37 Chapter 3: Wine in Safavid Iran II: Ambivalence and Prohibition 69 Chapter 4: Opium in Safavid Iran: The Assimilated Drug 97 Chapter 5: Tobacco in Safavid Iran: Pleasure and Proscription 117 Chapter 6: Coffee in Safavid Iran: Commerce and Consumption 144 Part II: Qajar Period Chapter 7: Wine in Qajar Iran: From Flouting the Religious Law to Flaunting Unbelie 177 Chapter 8: Opium and Tobacco in Qajar Iran: From Pleasureto Crash Crop and Emblem of the Nation 207 Chapter 9: From Coffee to Tea: Shifting Patterns of Consumption in Qajar Iran 237 Chapter 10: Drinking Tea in the Qahvah-khanah: The Politics of Consumption in Qajar Iran 267 Conclusion 293 Bibliography 305 Index 335
This excellent, well-written book is likely to become a classic work on the subject of drugs and stimulants both in Iran and the wider Islamic world. It will have a readership far beyond those individuals interested principally in Iranian or Middle Eastern studies. The author not only discusses the use of the commodities but he also analyzes the social practice of consumption, the persistent tension between social practice and religious norms exemplified by the use of and attitude toward wine, drugs, and stimulants, and the ways in which Iranian consumption was related to the shifting patterns of international trade. -- Stephen F. Dale, Ohio State University, author of "The Garden of the Eight Paradises: Babur and the Culture of Empire in Central Asia, Afghanistan, and India (1483-1530)"
Rudi Matthee is Professor of History at the University of Delaware. He is the author of "The Politics of Trade in Safavid Iran: Silk for Silver, 1600-1730".
This is an extremely successful foray into the social history of Iran in the early modern period. This is a very rich and readable book. It is especially good at showing the wider significance of the pursuit of pleasure. -- Michael Pearson Itinerario As a work of social and economic history, this book sets a high standard... [M]ost readers will be more than satisfied by this lucid, precise, and information-packed volume. -- Richard W. Bulliet American Historical Review
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