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Middle Eastern Literature & History
Nationalism, Identity and Diaspora
Tasnim Qutait, Uppsala University, Sweden Interweaving theories and studies of memory, nostalgia, ruins and archives with the works of Fadia Faqir, Ahdaf Soueif, Jamal Mahioub and others, in this book Tasnim Qutait sheds light on understudied Arab British writers.
Arguing that nostalgia challenges nationalist and political ideologies rather than reiterating them, Qutait uses nostalgia as a concept interlinking loss, memory and trauma. Anlysing both Arabic and English language texts, she questions the binary of negative and positive forms of nostalgia, emerging from its etymology as a sickness in Western tradition, through invoking the multifarious strands related to nostalgic emotion in Arab traditions.
UK November 2022 • US November 2022 • 200 pages PB 9780755641932 • £28.99 / $39.95 Previously published in HB 9780755617593 ePub 9780755617616 • £76.50 / $105.78 ePdf 9780755617609 • £76.50 / $105.78 Series: Written Culture and Identity • I.B. Tauris
Sasanian Persia
The Rise and Fall of an Empire
Touraj Daryaee, University of California, Irvine, USA
Of profound importance in late antiquity, the Sasanian Empire is virtually unknown today, except as a counterpoint to the Roman Empire. The last of the great ancient Persian empires and founded by Ardashir l in 224 CE, the Sasanian Empire was the dominant force in the Middle East for several centuries until its last king, Yazdgerd lll, was defeated by the Muslim Arabs in the seventh century. In this highly readable history, Touraj Daryaee fills a significant gap in our knowledge of world history. This second edition examines the Sasanians' complex and colourful narrative and demonstrates their unique significance, not only for the development of Iranian civilization but also for Roman and Islamic history.
UK February 2023 • US February 2023 • 304 pages PB 9780755618415 • £19.99 / $26.95 • HB 9780755618408 • £65.00 / $90.00 ePub 9780755618422 • £17.99 / $24.72 ePdf 9780755618439 • £17.99 / $24.72 I.B. Tauris
A Social History
Lisa Nielson, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, USA Lisa Nielson here presents a rich social and cultural history of music, musicianship and musicians in the early Islamic world. Focusing on Damascus, Baghdad and Jerusalem, she draws on a wide variety of textual sources written for or about musicians– including chronicles, literary sources, memoirs and musical treatises – as well as the disciplinary approaches of musicology to offer insights into musical performances and the lives of musicians. In the process, the book sheds light onto the dynamics of medieval Islamic courts, as well as slavery, gender, status and identity in courtly life. It will appeal to scholars of the Islamic world and historical musicologists.
UK November 2022 • US November 2022 • 296 pages PB 9780755641819 • £28.99 / $39.95 Previously published in HB 9781784539542 ePub 9780755617906 • £76.50 / $105.78 ePdf 9780755617890 • £76.50 / $105.78 Series: Early and Medieval Islamic World • I.B. Tauris
History of the Arab Invasions: The Conquest of the Lands
A New Translation of al-Baladhuri's Futuh al-Buldan
Ahmad b. Yahya al-Baladhuri Translated by Hugh Kennedy, SOAS, University of London, UK This is perhaps the most important single source for the history of the great Arab conquests in the 6th and 7th centuries. A historian working at the court of the Abbasid caliphs in Baghdad, al-Baladhuri preserved accounts not found anywhere else, containing a wealth of information about government, land-holding and economic developments. This new translation, fully annotated with a scholarly apparatus and commentary on places, events and individuals mentioned, finally makes a key source on the Arab conquests available in English.
UK October 2022 • US October 2022 • 544 pages HB 9781788314190 • £120.00 / $160.00 ePub 9780755637423 • £108.00 / $149.75 ePdf 9780755637416 • £108.00 / $149.75 I.B. Tauris
Baghdad and Isfahan
A Dialogue of Two Cities in an Age of Science CA. 750-1750
Elaheh Kheirandish, Harvard University, USA Charting the history of Baghdad and Isfahan from 750 to 1750, Elaheh Kheirandish draws on the voices of court astronomers, mathematicians, scientists, mystics, jurists, statesmen and Arabic and Persian translators and scholars. Telling the story of the rise of Baghdad and the decline of Isfahan, as capital cities and as centres of intellectual thought, this unique book addresses Islamic culture’s extensive and lasting contribution to the history of science. Kheirandish bases her narrative on a unique medieval manuscript and other historical sources and the result is more than a thousand-year “tale of two cities”—it is a city by city, and century by century, look at what it took to change the world.
UK November 2022 • US November 2022 • 296 pages PB 9780755635108 • £28.99 / $39.95 Previously published in HB 9781780768335 ePub 9780755635085 • £81.00 / $112.65 ePdf 9780755635078 • £81.00 / $112.65 I.B. Tauris
Politics and Government in Byzantium
The Rise and Fall of the Bureaucrats
Jonathan Shea, The George Washington University, USA The contemporary accounts of the turbulent ‘long’ eleventh century attribute the Byzantine empire’s decline to the emperors’ reckless and self-serving favouring of civilian bureaucrats. Jonathan Shea has meticulously analysed 2,200 unpublished seals from the period, crucial archival sources which uncover exactly whom the emperors were favouring and promoting, developing a nuanced and revealing picture of the makeup of the much-chastised civilian bureaucracy. The sigillographic evidence is measured throughout against the written material to give a fresh account of this key transitional century and a rare insight into Byzantine politics.
UK August 2022 • US August 2022 • 272 pages PB 9780755648306 • £19.99 / $26.95 Previously published in HB 9780755601936 ePub 9780755601950 • £81.00 / $112.65 ePdf 9780755601943 • £81.00 / $112.65 Series: New Directions in Byzantine Studies • I.B. Tauris
