Islamic Central Asia An Anthology of Historical Sources [Paperback]

Islamic Central Asia is the first English-language anthology of primary documents for the study of Central Asian history. Scott C. Levi and Ron Sela draw from a vast array of historical sources to illustrate important aspects of the social, cultural, political, and economic history of Islamic Central Asia. These documentsmany newly translated and most not readily available for studycover the period from the 7th-century Arab conquests to the 19th-century Russian colonial era and provide new insights into the history and significance of the region.

Scott C. Levi is Associate Professor of Central Asian History at The Ohio State University. He is author of The Indian Diaspora in Central Asia and Its Trade, 15501900 and editor of India and Central Asia: Commerce and Culture, 15001800.

Ron Sela is Assistant Professor of Central Asian History in the Department of Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University Bloomington. He is author of The Legendary Biographies of Tamerlane: Islam and Heroic Apocrypha in Central Asia.

This careful compilation includes court chronicles, memoirs, legal documents, poetry, and more. The breadth of the coverage skillfully illustrates how Central Asia today is the result of many cultures, languages, and ethnicities. . . . Summing Up: Essential. A must for collections on Central Asia. October 2010, Vol. 48 No. 2[T]he anthology is set up in an exemplary manner and the sources describe the extensive history . . . [It] will occupy an important place in studies on the history of Central Asia, the expansion of Islam, and the relationship between the peoples in the Islamic cultural world . . .Levi and Sela's well-chosen and vividly translated collection takes pedagogy on Central Eurasia beyond philology to history, making a wealth of sources available to students for the first time. They have thrown open the iron gates of Islamic Central Asia to hordes of new readers.[A]n excellent collection, which will be a valuable sourcebooklÓ1