Harem: World Behind the Veil -P: The World Behind the Veil » (Reprint)

"I was born in an old house that was once the harem of a pasha. During my childhood, slaves and odalisques lived there with us." So begins this history of one of the strangest institutions any culture has ever developed. Drawing on firsthand accounts and memoirs, Harem explores life in the world's harems from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century. This exotic volume is richly illustrated with extravagant works by European artists and exquisite Turkish woodcuts, gemlike Persian miniatures, and historic photographs.

Born in Turkey, Alev Lytle Croutier is a screenwriter and documentary producer.

125 illustrations, 50 in full color

Publishers Weekly

This study considers the everyday lives of odalisques, the harem as the Moslem equivalent of purdah and male-dominated harem life as symbolic of the collective unconscious. ``Ultimately, the text is a choppy amalgam of history, reminiscence, conjecture and intermittently overblown writing,'' said PW . ``Much more evocative are the 125 photographs and reproductions of art works included here.'' (Mar.)