In this comprehensive and up to date history, from prehistoric proto-Indo-Iranian times to the post-Soviet period, Richard Foltz traces the complex linguistic, cultural and political history of the Tajiks, a Persian-speaking Iranian ethnic group from the modern-day Central Asian states of Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan. In eight chapters, the author explores the revitalisation of Persian culture under the Samanid Empire in the Tajik heartlands of historical Khorasan and Transoxiana; analyses the evolution of the politics of Tajik identity; and traces the history of the ethnic Tajik diaspora today. This revised edition includes a new chapter on the Tajiks' situation in Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan since 2018, covering notably the effects of the Taliban's return to power in August 2021 and the COVID pandemic in all three countries, as well as border clashes with Kyrgyzstan.

No detailed description available for "Central Eurasian Reader".

Review: "This four-volume set features nearly 1,500 entries by experts on all aspects of Russian history, including important biographical figures, geographical areas, ethnographic groups, cultural landmarks, military campaigns, and social issues."--"The Top 20 Reference Titles of the Year," American Libraries, May 2004.

This Dictionary supplies essential information for anyone interested in the country of region, including librarians, students, scholars, and diplomats. It offers insight into the old kingdoms and empires, the old communist state, and now the independent republic. This is conveyed mainly through numerous entries on persons, places, events, institutions, ethnic groups, political, economic, social, and cultural issues.

For the second half of a two-course sequence in Muslim history, Islamic Civilization, and religious studies courses on Islam. The history of the predominantly Muslim world is examined within the context of world history. It examines political, economic, and broad cultural developments, as well as specifically religious ones. The themes of the book are tradition and adaptation: It examines the tensions between the desire of Muslims to maintain continuity with their legacy and their recognition of the need to adapt to changing conditions.

Central Asia is distinctive in its role as a frontier region in which a unique diversity of cultural, religious, and political traditions exist. This collection of essays by expert scholars in a range of disciplines focuses on the formation of ethnic, religious, and national identities in Muslim societies of Central Asia, thus furthering our general understanding of the history and culture of this significant region. This study includes several geopolitical regions--Chinese Central Asia, Soviet Central Asia, Afghanistan, Transoxiana and Khurasan--and covers historical periods from the fifteenth century to the present. Drawing on scholarship in anthropology, religion, history, literature, and language studies, Muslims in Central Asia argues for an interdisciplinary, inter-regional dialog in the development of new approaches to understanding the Muslim societies in Central Asia. The authors creatively examine the social construction of identities as expressed through literature, Islamic discourse, historical texts, ethnic labels, and genealogies, and explore how such identities are formed, changed, and adopted through time. Contributors. Hamid Algar, Muriel Atkin, Walter Feldman, Dru C. Gladney, Edward J. Lazzerini, Beatrice Forbes Manz, Christopher Murphy, Oliver Roy, Isenbike Togan

Contains entries that provide information about significant people, places, and events in the history of the Middle East and North Africa since 1800; arranged alphabetically from Shammar to Zurayk, with maps, genealogies, a glossary, and an index.