The Pursuit of Pleasure: Drugs and Stimulants in Iranian History, 1500-1900.

• Author: Venetis, Evangelos
• Position: Book review

The Pursuit of Pleasure: Drugs and Stimulants in Iranian History, 1500-1900. By RUDI MATTHEE. Princeton: PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2005. Pp. xv + 346. $30.50.

The author of this book has produced a fine account covering a largely unexplored area of research. While the vast majority of published works in Iranian studies has focused on spiritual-immaterial aspects of Iranian civilization, Matthee addresses an underdeveloped area of Iranian material culture: the historical role of drugs and stimulants (alcohol, opium, tobacco, coffee, tea) in Iranian society during the Safavid and Qajar periods.

Matthee adopts a chronological presentation of his material, as well as a thematic division. The first chapter is a historical introduction to the Safavid and Qajar periods. The rest of the book is divided into two parts: the first covers the Safavid period and its aftermath (1500-1796); the second focuses on the Qajar period up to the constitutional revolution (1796-1911). The first part discusses four stimulants (alcohol, opium, tobacco, coffee); the second part includes an additional chapter about tea. The concluding remarks (pp. 293-303), a rich bibliographical section (pp. 307-34), and a useful index of proper names and key-terms (pp. 335-46) complete the body of the book.

The first part of the book (on Safavid Iran) begins with three chapters devoted to alcohol and, in particular, wine. The first chapter examines the historical background of Safavid and Qajar Iran. The second focuses on wine consumption amongst the upper classes and the role of drinking in the shifting profile of Iranian kingship. The third chapter analyzes the prohibition imposed by the ruling system upon wine and alcohol consumption in general. The history of opium and hashish is discussed in the fourth and tobacco in the fifth chapter. Coffee, as a new beverage playing a central role in the daily life of all Iranians, is analyzed in the sixth chapter.

The seventh chapter, on wine, opens the second part of the book, which is devoted to the transformation that stimulants underwent in the Qajar period. The eighth chapter deals with opium and tobacco as popular beverages and objects of national import. In the ninth chapter the author discusses the popular character of these drinks in the eighteenth century and pays attention to the gradual victory of tea over coffee consumption. The final chapter highlights the importance of tea and the development of a new type of coffeehouse...