Rulers’ courts of the pre-modern Middle East have long been a staple of Western fantasies about the East. Yet in spite of the importance of the court as a symbol of the absolutist power of the “Orient,” relatively few scholars have explored the cultural production of the courts of the pre-modern Middle East. In the Presence of Power: Court and Performance in the Pre-Modern Middle East, edited by Maurice A. Pomerantz (New York University Abu Dhabi) and Evelyn Birge Vitz (New York University), offers twelve chapters that present a complex and nuanced image of rulers’ courts as vital spaces of performance. Building on previous studies that have examined the court as an important sociopolitical space but moving in new directions, this volume explores literary works produced about and for performance in courts from the eighth to the sixteenth century. Contributions address topics such as delight, persuasion, and entertainment in Byzantine and Abbasid rulers’ courts.