Book excerpt: In the series of the monographs under the title “The Balkans” (publisher Livre de Lyon, Lyon, France), one volume has been dedicated to the everyday life and culture. This volume consists of four chapters examining the various phenomena in everyday life in the Balkans during the Ottoman era or phenomena still existing in the modern Balkan societies, as a result of the Oriental - Ottoman heritage in this region. This book presents one big step forward in research of the everyday life in the Ottoman Empire and especially the Balkans, since this is still one of the less elaborated and at the same time very important topics of the Balkan and Ottoman history, as well.