[MR] More Interesting New Books

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Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization

*Forthcoming Titles*

Culture and Conquest in Mongol Eurasia

Thomas T. Allsen

Description

In the thirteenth century, the Mongols created a vast transcontinental
empire that functioned as a cultural 'clearing house' for the Old World.
Under Mongol auspices various commodities, ideologies and technologies were
disseminated across Eurasia. The focus of this path-breaking study is the
extensive exchanges between Iran and China. The Mongol rulers of these two
ancient civilizations 'shared' the cultural resources of their realms with
one another. The result was a lively traffic in specialist personnel and
scholarly literature between East and West. These exchanges ranged from
cartography to printing, from agriculture to astronomy. The book concludes
by asking why the Mongols made such heavy use of sedentary scholars and
specialists in the elaboration of their court culture and why they initiated
so many exchanges across Eurasia. This is a work of great erudition which
crosses new scholarly boundaries in its analysis of communication and
culture in the Mongol empire.

Chapter Contents

Part I. Background: 1. Introduction; 2. Before the Mongols; Part II.
Political-Economic Relations: 3. Formation of the Il-qans, 1251-65; 4. Grand
Qans and Il-qans, 1265-95; 5. Continuity and change under Ghazan, 1295-1304;
6. Sultans and Grand Qans, 1304-35; 7. Economic ties; 8. Overview of the
relationship; Part III. Intermediaries: 9. Marco Polo and Po-lo; 10. Qubilai
and Bolad Aqa; 11. Rashid al-Din and Pulad chinksank; Part IV. Cultural
Exchange: 12. Historiography; 13. Geography and cartography; 14.
Agriculture; 15. Cuisine; 16. Medicine; 17. Astronomy; 18. Printing; Part V.
Analysis and Conclusions: 19. Models and methods; 20. Agency; 21. Filtering;
22. Summation.


Price: c. GBP 40.00
ISBN: 0521803357
Binding: Hardback
Pages: 260
Not yet published - available from August 2001

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Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Arab World

Bruce Masters

Description

Masters explores the history of Christians and Jews in the Arab provinces of
the Ottoman empire and how their identities as non-Muslims evolved over four
hundred years. At the start of this period, in the sixteenth century, social
community was circumscribed by religious identity and non-Muslims lived
within the hierarchy established by Muslim law. In the nineteenth century,
however, in response to Western influences, a radical change took place.
Conflict erupted between Muslims and Christians in different parts of the
empire in a challenge to that hierarchy. This marked the beginning, as the
author illustrates, of the tensions which have to a large extent inspired
the nationalist and religious rhetoric in the empire's successor states
throughout the twentieth century. In this way, Masters negotiates the
present through the past. His book will make a major contribution to an
understanding of the political and religious conflicts of the modern Middle
East.

Chapter Contents

Introduction: 1. The limits of tolerance: the social status of non-Muslims
in the Ottoman Arab lands; 2. The Ottoman Arab world: a diversity of sects
and peoples; 3. Merchants and missionaries in the seventeenth century: the
West intrudes; 4. New opportunities and challenges in the 'long' eighteenth
century; 5. Intercommunal dissonance in the nineteenth century; 6. After the
'events': the search for community in the twilight of empire; Conclusion.


Price: GBP 35.00
ISBN: 0521803330
Binding: Hardback
Pages: 240
Not yet published - available from July 2001