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Approaching Ottoman History: An Introduction to the Sources, by Suraiya Faroqhi. 262 pages, index, bibliography. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1999. $24.95 (Paper) ISBN 0-521-66648-1

Dazzled by the poetics of post-modern theory, a student's eyes often glaze over as discussion turns to the nuts and bolts of research. Alas, painstaking reconstruction invariably precedes critical deconstruction, especially in a field like Ottoman history where the challenges of pre-modern scripts compound the interpretation of texts and registers. Despite the obvious need, primers on historical methodology—as distinct from paleography manuals and lexicons—are exceedingly rare. It is all the more unusual to find a scholar of Faroqhi's stature willing to step up to the plate. Her efforts have resulted in a compact desk reference listing major archives and libraries (with the notable exception of Iranian and Indian facilities) for Ottoman history; and a bibliography of the state of the field, with particular reference to Asia Minor. Eight chapters throw a lifeline to students foundering before their first research project. Faroqhi appreciates the contributions of theory, but she prefers to err on the side of empiricism. In her introduction, she explains the great dilemma of Ottoman historiography. On the one hand, orientalism has taken a great toll on the field (pp. 15-19). On the other, the application of social scientific models yields diminishing returns. Although I do not think that Hayden White will get us out of this jam, her remarks stand: historians must allow the raw materials of history to transport them beyond preconceptions (pp. 22-25). Appropriately, it is sources, not models, that set this volume's agenda. Chapter four provides a good example of this approach. Devoted to rural history, it begins with an evaluation of modern techniques, including tree-ring studies and cadastral surveys (pp. 82103), to determine baseline trends in population and production. Only at the conclusion does the author entertain the debates concerning peasant society (pp. 104-9). This emphasis on the building blocks of history is long overdue. Nonetheless, the increasing sophistication of tools for gathering and evaluating socio-economic documents properly argues for more team research, a sterling example of which is the interdisciplinary efforts of F. Zarinebaf-Shahr, J. Bennet, and J. L. Davis to reconstruct agrarian relations before the Greek Revolution.