In a world that is constantly awake, illuminated and exposed, there is much to gain from looking into the darkness of times past. This fascinating and vivid picture of nocturnal life in Middle Eastern cities shows that the night in the eighteenth-century Ottoman Empire created unique conditions for economic, criminal, political, devotional and leisurely pursuits that were hardly possible during the day. Offering the possibility of livelihood and brotherhood, pleasure and refuge; the darkness allowed confiding, hiding and conspiring - activities which had far-reaching consequences on Ottoman state and society in the early modern period. Instead of dismissing the night as merely a dark corridor between days, As Night Falls demonstrates how fundamental these nocturnal hours have been in shaping the major social, cultural and political processes in the early modern Middle East.

2021 Book of the Year, History Today

'One of the most stunning books that I have read in many years. Powerfully conceived and rigorously researched, As Night Falls not only makes a seismic contribution to our knowledge of Middle Eastern history, but it is also essential reading for anyone with an interest in the forgotten half of everyday life - night’s wonders, perils, and promise, which Wishnitzer probes with clarity and brilliance.'

A. Roger Ekirch - Virginia Tech

'From nocturnal prayers, drinking parties, and imperial fireworks to analyses of the cost and extent of everyday domestic lighting, this study of the night in Ottoman cities chronicles a vast range of experience. Wishnitzer focuses on the infinite gradations of pre-industrial light and darkness to deepen our understanding of their symbolic and sociological possibilities. This work impressively expands the history of sleep and the night beyond Western Europe and North America.'

Craig Koslofsky - University of Illinois

'Wishnitzer takes us into dark and ‘benighted’ corners of early modern Ottoman cities, opening up a whole noctural world and its ecology. Engagingly written and based on an impressive mastery of sources, As Night Falls is a social history of night that will appeal to Ottoman historians and early modernists alike.'

Ethan L. Menchinger - University of Manchester

'By examining different forms of collective actions at night in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century, Wishnitzer illustrates surprising links between political actors, such as the Janissaries, artisans and religious orders with rhythms of time between light and dark, silence and sound, loneliness and crowdedness. This is an important milestone for the reconceptualization of Ottoman urban history and political culture.'

Ali Yaycıoğlu - Stanford University

‘Avner Wishnitzer’s illuminating book draws us into the world of darkness. A source of fear and insecurity, the night also brought with it the ability to conceal, to know but not to be seen to know, and the space for illicit entertainment and black-market trading.’

Kate Fleet Source: A History Today Book of the Year

‘… an important contribution to the social history of Ottoman cities during the early modern period.’

Fariba Zarinebaf Source: The Journal of Interdisciplinary History

‘That all this darkness mattered is the argument of Avner Wishnitzer’s recent book, the first devoted to the Ottoman night before the era of gas lighting. Ottoman nights weren’t just a darker version of the day. Rather, darkness transformed society … turning on the lights would have extinguished the productive ambiguity that night brought with it.'

Helen Pfeifer Source: London Review of Books

‘As Night Falls deserves to be a must-read for researchers of light, illumination, the Enlightenment, and of the long eighteenth century in general and of the late Ottoman Empire in particular.’

Oumaïma Jaïdane Source: YILLIK: Annual of Istanbul Studies