Description
Book SynopsisFrom ancient times to the present day, Iranian social, political, and economic life has been dramatically influenced by psychoactive agents. This book looks at the stimulants that, as put by a longtime resident of seventeenth-century Iran, Raphael du Mans, provided Iranians with damagh, gave them a 'kick', got them into a good mood.
Trade ReviewWinner of the 2006 Albert Hourani Book Award Winner of the 2006 Saidi-Sirjani Award, International Society of Iranian Studies "This is an extremely successful foray into the social history of Iran in the early modern period. This is a very rich and readable book. It is especially good at showing the wider significance of the pursuit of pleasure."--Michael Pearson, Itinerario "As a work of social and economic history, this book sets a high standard... [M]ost readers will be more than satisfied by this lucid, precise, and information-packed volume."--Richard W. Bulliet, American Historical Review
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations ix Note on Transliteration xi Preface xiii Abbreviations xviii Introduction 1 Part I: Safavid Period Chapter 1: General Overview: Iran between 1500 and 1900 17 Chapter 2: Wine in Safavid Iran I: Between Excess and Abstention 37 Chapter 3: Wine in Safavid Iran II: Ambivalence and Prohibition 69 Chapter 4: Opium in Safavid Iran: The Assimilated Drug 97 Chapter 5: Tobacco in Safavid Iran: Pleasure and Proscription 117 Chapter 6: Coffee in Safavid Iran: Commerce and Consumption 144 Part II: Qajar Period Chapter 7: Wine in Qajar Iran: From Flouting the Religious Law to Flaunting Unbelie 177 Chapter 8: Opium and Tobacco in Qajar Iran: From Pleasureto Crash Crop and Emblem of the Nation 207 Chapter 9: From Coffee to Tea: Shifting Patterns of Consumption in Qajar Iran 237 Chapter 10: Drinking Tea in the Qahvah-khanah: The Politics of Consumption in Qajar Iran 267 Conclusion 293 Bibliography 305 Index 335
