Bukhara: The Medieval Achievement (Bibliotheca Iranica. Reprint Series, No. 3)

Rating:
Summary: lost in many side steps
Review: Having visited Bukhara personally in 1999, I hoped to find a nice description of the grandeur of the city through the ages. What I found was a book full of details, with names dropping without going into much detail about the people mentioned. And the author takes far too many side steps (going into details which are not or less relevant for the main story) which make it hard to follow the main line. I am under the impression that the author wanted to create a scientific work with a documentation of every detail he has found during his studies, rather than thinking as an author about the history he wants to tell.

Rating:
Summary: Top book on origins of Islam in India and more
Review: I read this book nearly 25 years ago and the longer I live, the more impressed I am with it. It gave me a deep appreciation for the Arab-Persian-Turkic fusion that took place in Central Asia in the years 900-1100 (approx). This Islam was the one that came to the Indian subcontinent, even if the Arabs landed there a couple centuries earlier. I thought of this book any number of times as I taught Indian studies over the years and feel that it was one of the influential books in molding how I think about India (& Pakistan). It can only be even more useful today, now that Uzbekistan and the whole Central Asian region have regained independence and will be making their cultural impact on the world and more specifically, on South Asia. If you are interested in Islam, in Central and South Asia, in Iran or Turkish history, read this book !

Rating:
Summary: Top book on origins of Islam in India and more
Review: I read this book nearly 25 years ago and the longer I live, the more impressed I am with it. It gave me a deep appreciation for the Arab-Persian-Turkic fusion that took place in Central Asia in the years 900-1100 (approx). This Islam was the one that came to the Indian subcontinent, even if the Arabs landed there a couple centuries earlier. I thought of this book any number of times as I taught Indian studies over the years and feel that it was one of the influential books in molding how I think about India (& Pakistan). It can only be even more useful today, now that Uzbekistan and the whole Central Asian region have regained independence and will be making their cultural impact on the world and more specifically, on South Asia. If you are interested in Islam, in Central and South Asia, in Iran or Turkish history, read this book !