1010 Reviews of Books

tempts at russification, Volga Germans turned toGermany only after revolutionary confiscation ofgrain, livestock, and property. The collapse of theGerman empire dashed hopes for resettlement oroccupation of Volga German districts by the Ger-man army. Ultimately, Volga Germans fiad nochoice but to negotiate autonomy on tfie Bolshevikregime's terms.

Eisfeld often subordinates discussion of VolgaCerman concerns to an analysis of activities andaspirations of German colonists elsewhere in Russia.Such broader considerations were probably un-avoidable; however, Eisfeld covers neither the nar-rower Volga German topic nor its wider settingadequately. Eisfeld says tliat bis more inclusive ap-proach resulted from failure to gain access to rele-vant Soviet and East German archives. This alsoexplains why the author concentrates on politicalanalysis at the expense of the important social issuesraised in his introduction.

The text is appended with a series of well-selecteddocuments. A map would have fjeen useful.

BENJAMIN L. BENFORDTuskegee University

PHILIP POMPER, editor. Trotsky's Notebooks, 1933-1935: Writings on Lenin, Dialectics, and EvoliUionism.Assisted by YURI FELSHTINSKY. New York: GolumbiaUniversity Press. 1986. Pp. viii, 175. $25.00,

Tfie two notebooks and clutch of additional notestbat constitute tbe foundation of tbis book aremodest in bulk, roughly seven thousand Russianwords. These materials from the Trotsky papers atHarvard University are meticulously presented inboth the original Russian and English translation,with an introductory description of tbeir physicalformat, footnotes in Russian on peculiarities of tbetext, such as grammatical errors and color under-scoring, and explanatory footnotes in English onTrotsky's allusions, mainly to people. Scrawled inpencil, witb many abbreviations, tbe notebooks pre-sented problems of transcription, which Yuri Felsh-tinsky has solved. Of about thirty-eight pages of thenotebooks in translation, afxiut eight concern Leninand historypreliminary jottings for Trotsky's in-tended but unwritten life of Lenin. The rest consistsof a scattering of thoughts on dialectical philosophyand science, which in Trotsky's mind formed asingle category. Pbilip Pomper shows tfiat this wasinspired largely by Max Eastman's cfiallenge toTrotsky's Hegelian convictions.

Although this archival material by itself wouldinterest only a few specialists, Pomper's introduc-tion, whicfi occupies almost half the volume, endowsthe notebooks with high intellectual appeal. A mas-ter of tfie primary and secondary literature on

Troisky, he places the notebooks in their biograph-ical context and offers an analysis of the revolution-ary's "dialectical style" in contrast to tbat of some ofTrotsky's Russian Marxist contemporaries. AmongPomper's observations concerning matters bio-graphical, I found particularly apt the suggestionthat Trotsky was attempting to characterize fiimselfin his descriptions of Lenin's strengths. On dialecti-cal style Pomper sees Trotsky as emphasizing the"catastrophic principle," in contrast to Lenim's es-pousal of "flexibility."

Without losing fiis critical balance. Pomper ishighly respectful of Trotsky's intellect, whicb hasjustifiably impressed many observers, Trotskyamong them. Goncerning Trotsky's vanity and hisnotebooks on dialectics and evolutionism, there isone basic question (perhaps too elementary toTrotsky and Pomper to prompt either of them toaddress it at length) that I wisb Pomper's essay hadexplained for me. Did Trotsky see tfie dialectic as aheuristic device only? Or did he believe tfiat, with fiisself-taught knowledge of science, based partly onnewspapers, he could discover bow tbe dialecticworks as a kind of "unified field theory," embracingall tbe natural and social sdences?

ROBERT H. MCNEALUniversity of Massachusetts

NEAR EAST

RALPH s. HATTOX. Coffee and Coffeehouses: The Originsof a Social Beverage in the Medieval Near East. (NearEastern Studies, number 3.) Seattle: Department ofNear Eastern Languages and Givilizations, Univer-sity of Washington; distributed by University ofWashington Press, Seatde. 1985. Pp. xii, 178. $9.95.

Tfie discovery in Etfiiopia or tbe Yemen tfiat tfiecoffee bean could be used for brewing a pleasantand harmless hot drink was a noteworthy service forhuman society. According to documented evidence,it happened in the fifteenth century. From Arabicsources and reports by European travelers in theNear East, Ralph S. Hattox has put together theavailable information and discussed its significancein great detail. In particular, he wishes to point outan important transformationif transformation isnot too strong a wordin Near Eastern society asthe result of the introduction of coffee. In tfieMuslim environment coffee had three great virtues.It was a stimulant that caused no real physical effects(and those it did were mosdy in tfie imagination), incontrast to wine, which was outlawed by the Koran.It was conducive to socializing, in contrast to otherdrugs tbat were, or were considered, introvertingand normally tended to make their users shun

Near East 1011

company. And, from the practical side, it was easilytransported and kept fresh, in contrast to otherdrugs, among them coffee's compatriot, kat (CathaeduUs). There were, of course, complications. Mus-lim jurists and religious scholars had much practicein arguing, in analogy to wine, for the illegality ofdrugs that threatened to become popular, such ashashish. As could be expected, they made repeated,if largely unsuccessful, attempts to declare coffeeunlawful on religious and medical grounds. Theylooked with suspicion on its social character, becauseit could lead to criminal and seditious associations,which, indeed, it did on occasion. Moreover, andthis is Hattox's central theme, the coffeehouse didnot just ser\'e as entertainment but injected some-thing entirely new into Muslim society. The coffee-house provided everybody with an opportunity "toget out of the house" at all hours and created newsocial habits that had not been possible before (thewine tavern always having been a definitely forbid-den and thus immoral place restricted in its poten-tial clientele). Why it gained enormous popularity isdifficult, and perhaps impossible, to explain. Con-sumption of coffee may have spread because of itsaforementioned combination of three special quali-ties. Once started, it received a big boost fromhistorical circumstances, such as the simultaneousrise of the Ottoman empire with its wealthy center,which soon set the tone for every fashion.

At any rate, coffee and its "house" became anoticeable and long-lasting fixture in Muslim societyand arguably a historical force to be reckoned with.The author is not concerned with its subsequentexpansion elsewhere in the world or with the coffeebean as a commodity of great economic importance.The decline of the coffeehouse in the Near East aswell as the Western world is easily understandable inlight of modern conditions, even if it is regrettableand a genuine reason for nostalgia. How it all begancan be learned from this short book, which is writtenwith great care and full, reliable documentation.

ERANZ ROSENTHAL

Yale University

FANNY DAVIS. The Ottoman Lady: A Social History from1718 to 1918. (Contributions in Women's Studies,number 70.) Westport, Conn.: Greenwood. 1986.Pp. XV, 321. $49.95.

JUDITH E. TUCKER. Women in Nineteenth-Century Egypt.(Cambridge Middle East Library.) New York:Cambridge University Press. 1985. Pp. xii, 251.S37.50.

These studies make an interesting pair. Appearingnearly simultaneously, both are important contribu-tions to the rapidly growing field of Middle Easternwomen's studies. Both authors achieve an appropri-

ate blend of scholarly detachment, commitment tofeminism, and familiarity with the Islamic context oftheir subjects. In other ways, Fanny Davis andJudith E. Tucker are worlds apart. They belong todifferent generations and differ widely in theirideological preconceptions, their selection ofsources, their methodologies, and their interpreta-tions.

Ignoring the titilating, exotic connotations of the\vord "harem" for most Westerners, Davis elabo-rates a detailed ethnography of harem life amongupper-class Ottomans between 1718 and 1918. Herchapter titles convey the gist of her approach: "ThePalace," "Childbirth," "Education," "Marriage," "Po-lygamy and Concubinage," "The Woman Slave,""Divorce," "Social Life outside the Home," "SocialLife within the Home," "Intrigue," "Costume,""House and Furnishings," "Architecture and Art,""Religion," and "Illness, Old Age, and Death." Asshe approaches the end of her period, Davis notesthe increasing infiltration of Western dress, cus-toms, and ideas.

Davis covers an impressive range of Western andTurkish sources. Descriptions of harem life pro-vided by Western men-

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not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written

permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.