Aksan's book, An Ottoman Statesman in War and Peace: Ahmed Resmi Efendi, 1700-1783 consists of four chapters. The first chapter describes Ahmed Resmi's early career. Based on historical chronicles and documentary evidence, Aksan argues that Ahmed Resmi Efendi was a member of the hacegân, the upper echelon of the chancery offices, and a typical representative of the kâtıb (secretaries) organisation in the eighteenth century. In this period, the Ottoman bureaucracy, and especially the offices involved with foreign affairs, namely the Chief Scribe/Foreign Affairs Officer, the Reisülküttab and his members, grew in size. Aksan points out that the factors leading to the growth of bureaucracy were the nature of scribal education, the importance of patronage and proficiency in imperial culture along with the professionalisation of foreign affairs and increased contact with Europe in this period. She stresses the role of the members of the chancery as diplomats and refers to the importance of the treaty of Karlowitz in 1699, the terms of which were negotiated for the first time by a member of the bureaucracy.