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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
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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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Copyright of American Historical Review is the property of
University of Chicago Press and its content may
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