This book collects five essays by scholars on different aspects of slavery in the Muslim Middle East. Contrary to the title, it is not a comprehensive review of the phenomenon -- vast in time, space, and social, political, and economic features -- but snapshots of slavery in a few limited contexts. Perhaps the essay that will appeal most to non-specialists is John Hunwick's discussion of the role race played in enslavement in northern and western Africa; he teases out the various conflicting strands of legal-religious theory and practice on the ground to bring to life a relationship between slavery and race with tantalizing differences from and similarities to the system Americans are most familiar with. Also good are the editor's (Shaun Marmon) discussion of domestic slavery among the Mamluks and Yvonne Seng's on slavery in Istanbul. Michel Le Gall contributes a translation of an account by a French doctor of the slave trade in late eighteenth-century Cairo; it contains some useful data and has been judiciously annotated, but anyone who wants to use it seriously will no doubt consult the original French. The volume ends with a posthumous essay ranging broadly over time and space by the great scholar David Ayalon. While there is probably nothing much new here, it is fun to watch a great mind playing with history on the broad scale. It is a pity that the editor did not feel the need to supply the references that a scholar like Ayalon would surely have included in a final revision had he lived to complete it.

Compiled and edited by Shaun E. Marmon, Slavery In The Islamic Middle East is an impressive and informative selection of scholarly essays examining the institution of slavery as recognized and regulated by Islamic law, and as incorporated into Muslim societies well into the modern day. Looking at military slavery in Islam in the pre-modern period, the connection between skin color and slavery, a memoir portraying a raw and real look at victims of the African slave trade, and more, Slavery In The Islamic Middle East is a welcome and invaluable addition to Middle Eastern History and Islamic Studies reference shelves and reading lists.