Islamic Central Asia

"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. — Choice"

~V. Clement, Naval Postgraduate School

"[A]n excellent collection, which will be a valuable sourcebook for courses on the history of Central Asia and Islamic history. As the first English-language anthology of historical sources on the region, it provides a wealth of materials, which can be used to cover a wide variety of themes. It should be on the syllabus of any undergraduate course on the history of Central Asia."

~Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient

"The collection of this large number of primary sources into a single volume in readable English translation and published in paperback will make this a widely used resource for teaching the history of Central Asia at English-language universities everywhere."

~Ab Imperio

"[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 . . ."

~Asiatische Studien / Études Asiatiques

"[T]his is a fascinating and much-needed collection."

~Central Asian Survey

"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"

~Choice

"Islamic Central Asia: An Anthology of Historical Sources is a needed resource for students of Central Asia and should find a large audience. The selection of previously translated materials is well thought out, the introductions to each section and each selection are elegant and erudite, and the more than twenty new translations are particularly welcome. The co-editors are to be warmly commended for making such a rich compendium available."

~Robert D. McChesney, New York University

"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."

~James A. Millward, Georgetown University

"Situated at the heart of the so-called Silk Road, the peoples of Central Asia witnessed numerous invasions, migrations, and exchanges of religions and cultures, goods and technologies. Central Asia has been exoticized in the West—and in the East—and has captivated the imagination of many. While emphasizing some of the remarkable aspects of Central Asian history, this anthology also examines daily lives in periods of great achievements and important transformations as well as times of crisis, strife and isolation."

~from the introduction

"A much-needed, long overdue and impressive anthology of translations from sources by and about Muslim Central Asians. The editors have chosen well, providing access to many materials not previously available in English and covering the region in depth. This volume will be required reading for courses on Central Asia."

~Peter B. Golden, Rutgers University