In 1722, the Safavid empire collapsed. An empire that ruled for over two centuries, in its heyday it spanned parts of Central Asia, the Caucasus, and present-day Iran. The decades following its fall were ones of unrest and discord, and it was only with the rise of the Qajars in the 1780s that a level of stability was restored. Assef Ashraf devotes this book to an analysis of th...(展开全部)

In 1722, the Safavid empire collapsed. An empire that ruled for over two centuries, in its heyday it spanned parts of Central Asia, the Caucasus, and present-day Iran. The decades following its fall were ones of unrest and discord, and it was only with the rise of the Qajars in the 1780s that a level of stability was restored. Assef Ashraf devotes this book to an analysis of th...(展开全部)

For centuries, some of the world's largest empires fought for sovereignty over the resources of Northeast Asia. This compelling analysis of the region's environmental history examines the interplay of climate and competing imperial interests in a vibrant - and violent - cultural narrative. Families that settled this borderland reaped its riches while at the mercy of an unforgiv...(展开全部)

For centuries, some of the world's largest empires fought for sovereignty over the resources of Northeast Asia. This compelling analysis of the region's environmental history examines the interplay of climate and competing imperial interests in a vibrant - and violent - cultural narrative. Families that settled this borderland reaped its riches while at the mercy of an unforgiv...(展开全部)

A boom in the production and export of cotton made Iran the richest region of the Islamic caliphate in the ninth and tenth centuries. Yet in the eleventh century, Iran's impressive agricultural economy entered a steep decline, bringing the country's primacy to an end. Richard W. Bulliet advances several provocative theses to explain these hitherto unrecognized historical event...(展开全部)

A boom in the production and export of cotton made Iran the richest region of the Islamic caliphate in the ninth and tenth centuries. Yet in the eleventh century, Iran's impressive agricultural economy entered a steep decline, bringing the country's primacy to an end. Richard W. Bulliet advances several provocative theses to explain these hitherto unrecognized historical event...(展开全部)

This study provides a new interpretation of how political authority was conceived and transmitted in the Early Mongol Empire (1227-1259) and its successor state in the Middle East, the Ikhanate (1258-1335). Authority within the Mongol Empire was intimately tied to the character of its founder, Chinggis Khan, whose reign served as an idealized model for the exercise of legitimat...(展开全部)

This study provides a new interpretation of how political authority was conceived and transmitted in the Early Mongol Empire (1227-1259) and its successor state in the Middle East, the Ikhanate (1258-1335). Authority within the Mongol Empire was intimately tied to the character of its founder, Chinggis Khan, whose reign served as an idealized model for the exercise of legitimat...(展开全部)

This work offers a sweeping re-assessment of the Jiankang Empire (3rd-6th centuries CE), known as the Chinese "Southern Dynasties." It shows how, although one of the medieval world's largest empires, Jiankang has been rendered politically invisible by the standard narrative of Chinese nationalist history, and proposes a new framework and terminology for writing about medieval E...(展开全部)

By the middle of the third century B.C.E. in China there were individuals who sought to become transcendents (xian)--deathless, godlike beings endowed with supernormal powers. This quest for transcendence became a major form of religious expression and helped lay the foundation on which the first Daoist religion was built. Both xian and those who aspired to this exalted status ...(展开全部)