Leslie Peirce is Silver Professor of History, Middle Eastern, and Islamic Studies at New York University. The award-winning author of two previous books, Peirce lives in New York City.
"Empress of the East seems to offer a glimpse of proto-feminist
life in a land otherwise known as an oppressive one for
women...Fascinating."--Bookforum
"A brilliant book that restores one of the most fascinating women
in Islamic history to prominence. Leslie Pierce, the foremost
authority on the Ottoman imperial harem, has done her subject
justice in this exquisitely crafted biography."
--Eugene Rogan, author of The Fall of the Ottomans
"A riveting story of power, patronage and harem politics in
sixteenth century Istanbul. Roxelana, the slave who became a
sultana, deserves to figure at least as prominently in the annals
of women's history as her famous European contemporaries."
--Sarah Gristwood, author of Game of Queens
"Engaging...Peirce persuasively recasts Roxelana as a pragmatist
adept at navigating both palace politics and international
relations, and as a pioneer who established a more powerful role
for Ottoman women."--The New Yorker
"Fascinating from beginning to end, Peirce's telling of Roxelana's
story illuminates her remarkable life and the evolution of the
long-lived empire that straddled two continents."
--Publishers Weekly
"From harem girl to Ottoman queen-Roxelana is one of the most
fascinating women of the sixteenth-century. Leslie Peirce brings
Roxelana to life as wife, mother, and sultana, and gives us a vivid
picture of her Muslim world. A gripping and well-told tale!"
--Natalie Zemon Davis, author of Trickster Travels: A
Sixteenth-Century Muslim Between Worlds
"It takes solid scholarship to turn the potentially Orientalist
tale of a young slave who became the wife of the most powerful
sovereign of the sixteenth century into an accurate and
well-documented historical narrative. It takes talent to give this
narrative the lively twist that makes it such a good read. It takes
Leslie Peirce's years of experience with the study of the daily
life of Ottoman women, high and low, to bring to the foreground the
life and destiny of a woman, however powerful and exceptional, in a
world of men. Roxelana/Hürrem's story is a novel and rather unique
way to discover or revisit one of the most fascinating episodes of
Ottoman history."
--Edhem Eldem, Bogazici University, Istanbul
"Leslie Peirce is uniquely qualified to tell the story of one of
the greatest royal love affairs in world history. In her earlier,
ground-breaking book, Peirce demystified the Ottoman harem. In
Empress of the East, she demonstrates the same careful attention to
primary sources, refusing to romanticise what we cannot know.
Reality is far more compelling. This page-turning narrative of an
Ottoman sultan's passion draws us deeply into the household of a
couple that broke all the rules. Peirce sets Süleyman and
Roxelana's intimate lives within the context of the times, to show
how the personal was inescapably political. Roxelana has at last
found the biographer she deserves."
--Caroline Finkel, author of Osman's Dream
"Leslie Peirce, one of the world's foremost historians of the
Ottoman empire, has created a brilliant, absorbing, and profoundly
insightful account of one of the most enigmatically interesting
figures of the sixteenth century: Roxelana, the captive slave who
ultimately reigned alongside Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.
Peirce is rightly celebrated for her expertise on the fascinating
subject of the Ottoman harem, and there is no one better qualified
to help us understand how Roxelana emerged from the sultan's harem
to become one of the most powerful political figures of her times.
This is a book that should be read by anyone interested in
understanding the deep history of Turkey, the Ottoman empire, and
the Muslim Middle East."
--Larry Wolff, author of The Singing Turk
"Peirce chronicles the remarkable life and times of Roxelana, the
Eastern European slave girl who reshaped her own destiny after
being kidnapped and inducted into the harem of Sultan Suleyman the
Magnificent...Wielding her power during a juncture in history
distinguished by many strong female leaders, her exceptional
accomplishments are especially noteworthy considering her humble
origins and all that she overcame."
--Booklist
"The fascinating story of one remarkable harem slave, who broke
through [the] rocky ceiling, claiming unprecedented authority for
women and forever changing the nature of the Ottoman
government...This lively book resurrects Roxelana."--The New York
Times Book Review
A New York Times Books Review Editors' Choice pick
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