The Harem, The: An Account of the Institution as it Existed in the Palace of the Turkish Sultans

The merit of N.M. Penzer's book, which was originally published a bare quarter of a century after the Turkish harem came to an ignominious end, is that without minimizing the sensational and unpleasant aspects of the system he presents an authoritative, objective account of its history over a period of 450 years.