PICT Book Reviewed in Athens Voice

The 17-23 October 2024 issue of Athens Voice magazine has devoted an extensive book review to Gender in Ottoman Constantinople by David Selim Sayers (PICT Books, 2024).

In her review, Krystalli Glyniadakis praises the book for recovering a gender world “that had accompanied the societies of the Balkans and Anatolia for entire centuries” before being “sacrificed on the altar of Western scientism, Darwinian progress and national rebirth.” Despite its historical focus, Glyniadakis stresses, the book also has plenty of contemporary relevance: “it reveals to us the sources of many ‘traditional’ roles, beliefs and behaviors that we have had as a people at least until my own generation (Gen X/Millennials)–if not still.” Describing Gender in Ottoman Constantinople as “flowing” and “well-written,” Glyniadakis concludes her review by calling the book a “great pleasure.”

Gender in Ottoman Constantinople begins by granting us a fascinating glimpse into what the culture of Ottoman Constantinople takes for granted, frowns upon, laments, and lampoons in terms of gender. Next, questioning the widely-held assumption that this gender world disintegrated in the 19th century, the book demonstrates how Ottoman notions of gender continue to inform descendants of this culture even today. With its surprising and unexpected insights, Gender in Ottoman Constantinople challenges its readers to rebuild their own conceptions of gender—and history—from the ground up.

With a monthly online readership of over 2.5 million unique visitors and a weekly print readership of around 150,000, Athens Voice is one of the major cultural media outlets in Greece. Reviewer Krystalli Glyniadakis is a journalist, translator, and poet who received the Greek National Literary Award for Poetry in 2018. Her review of Gender in Ottoman Constantinople is available in Greek, accompanied by an English translation option.

We congratulate David, everyone at PICT Books, and our entire community on this special occasion!

Read the full review here!