Part 1: The Beginning: Prophecy and Poetry
1. Malhun Hatun (d. 1323): Mother of the Dynasty
2. Mihri Hatun (1460-1515): Distinguished Court Poet
3. Zeynep Hatun (fifteenth century): Elusive Touchstone of the Poet Biographers
4. A’isha al-Ba‘uniyya (d. 1517): Mystic, Mufti, and Spiritual Model
Part 2: A Global Empire: Networks of Influence, Webs of Power, and “The Sultanate of Women”
5. Hürrem Sultan (1502-1558): Roxelana, the Queen and the Witch
6. Doña Gracia Mendes Nasi (1510-1569): Heroine of the Inquisition
7. Nurbanu Sultan (1525-1583): Architect of an Unprecedented Charitable Foundation
8. Şakire Hatun (circa the 1570s): Plaintiff and “Warrior”
9. Elizabeth Báthory (1560-1614): The Bloody Countess
10. Gülnuş Sultan (1642-1715): The Huntress Who Ushered in the Tulip Period
Part 3: The Ottoman Baroque: Art, Revolution, and Orientalism in the Long Eighteenth Century
11. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762): Errant Embodiment of the European Enlightenment
12. Dilhayat Kalfa (1710-1780): Celebrated Composer
13. Laskarina Bouboulina (1771-1825): Champion of the Greek Revolution
14. Esma İbret Hanım (b. 1780): Master Calligrapher
15. Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann (1819-1881): Orientalist Painter
Part 4: The Age of National Consciousness: Feminist Witnessing and Feminist Disruption
16. Maryana Marrash (1848-1919): Muse, Poet, and Essayist
17. Fatma Aliye (1862-1936): New Woman and Novelist
18. Zabel Yesayan (1878-1943): Genre-Defining Witness to the Armenian Genocide
19. Huda Sha’arawi (1879-1947): Charismatic Founder of the Egyptian Feminist Union
20. Celile Hikmet (1880-1956): Subversive Modernist Painter
21. Halide Edip (1884-1964): The Turkish Republic’s Foremost Feminist
Part 5: The End: Making Things Fall Apart
22. Sarah Aaronsohn (1890-1917): A Spy in the Levant
23. Anastasia Golovina (1850-1933) and Safiye Ali (1894-1952): Medical Practitioners Across Borders
24. Sabiha Sertel (1895-1968): Dissident Publishing Phenomenon
25. Sabiha Gökçen (1913-2001): The World’s First Female Fighter Pilot
Biography
Ruth Miller is Professor Emerita of History at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Her publications include The Biopolitics of Embryos and Alphabets: A Reproductive History of the Nonhuman (2017) and The Limits of Bodily Integrity: Abortion, Adultery, and Rape Legislation in Comparative Perspective (2007).
