In the Book Review, you are supposed to analyze Jane Hathaway’s Beshir Agha. Chief Eunuch of the Ottoman Imperial Harem in a 2000 word paper. Guiding questions should be how the different ‘worlds’ of Islam (Shi’ism, Sufism, the Ottoman court, the other religious and ethnic groups within the empire) interplay in Beshir Agha’s life, and what does this say then for the Islamic character of the Sultan’s empire? For this purpose you should also take into account questions such as how Hathaway presents her material? What is her approach to history, how does she structure the book, what are her respective foci in the different chapters, and what is her respective argumentation? Please keep in mind that you should give appropriate evidence for your arguments, including correct footnoting and bibliography (Chicago style).”

That means that you should not just re-narrate the book, or give a short history of the Ottoman Empire; rather you should analyze and discuss Hathaway’s approach in this book, and her argumentation. For this, you certainly need to give a short summary, but that should not be more than, say, one fifth of your review, rather less.