The question of space and place’s relevance has slowly been gaining momentum in historiography for several years now. To an increasing extent, historians, especially those in the field of urban history, are asking questions inspired by their colleagues in geography and philosophy departments. 

The question of space and place’s relevance has slowly been gaining momentum in historiography for several years now. To an increasing extent, historians, especially those in the field of urban history, are asking questions inspired by their colleagues in geography and philosophy departments. The volume currently under review is an interesting addition to this body of work; yet it is also very much situated in the academic debate on Orientalism and ‘Islamic cities’. As the editors rightfully indicate, much of this discussion has unfortunately ignored the urban locality of these cities. The editors aim to scrutinize the idea of the Islamic city through the lens of European travel writing, employing the term as a heuristic device to analyse how the cities of the ‘Muslim world’ were represented by travellers from Europe and America