The book introduces the reader to the wealth of narrative sources on late Ottoman Istanbul's diverse population by drawing on the voices of its permanent residents and foreign visitors. It juxtaposes a selection of unpublished and/or neglected life narratives to the prevailing national historiographies and creates a tapestry of diverse perceptions of life in the Ottoman capital formed from various angles, gender perspectives and social backgrounds.

Even though narrative sources have lately been recognized as legitimate heuristic tools for the writing of history, this "biographic...