Islamic Central Asia : an anthology of historical sources /

Sela and Levi offer the first anthology of Central Asian literature in English. Chronically ordered chapters provide primary sources from diverse languages in translation. The geographic reach of material stretches from the Caspian Sea region to modern-day Xinjiang in China. The authors aimed to provide understudied sources, and they include several original translations. 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. Going back to pre-Islamic Turkic written sources, covering the Arab conquests of Central Asia, acknowledging the Mongol influence, and comparing Turkic and Persian sources even before coming to the modern period, the content demonstrates the region's complex heritage. Designed to complement an introductory study of Central Asian history, the book would be useful to collections in world history, including the early modern period (1600-1900). Summing Up: Essential. A must for collections on Central Asia; recommended for undergraduate and graduate world history collections. V. Clement Naval Postgraduate School