Customer Reviews

Medieval Persia, 1040-1797 (History of the Near East)

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Dr. Morgan states that his purpose for writing this book is to provide a clear, concise history of Persia after the arrival of the saljuqs until the rise of the Qajar dynasty. He also states that he hopes to prove the legitimacy of calling this time period "medieval." In both tasks he succeded. Though brief, only 160 pages of text, the book demonstrates how Persian history in this time period, though it appears fragmented, is actually unified in the continuation of Persian culture, and administrative structure. This book is certainly intended for the students of the Middle East, and while Morgan spends agood deal of time cataloguing rulers and battles, he spends an equal amount of time with religious, economic, social and cultural aspects of the period. The book is well laid out, in chronological order. Each chapter is appropriately titled, and the book follows a consistent pattern. If you have an interest in Persia, this book is extremely interesting.

The book is a very interesting read on an under-treated subject. If you want a concise, highly readable, brief book on the period between the rise of the Seljuks to the collapse of the Safawids, I strongly recommend it.

That said, it seems odd to have such a quick survey on such a limited subject. The usefulness of a monograph is that an author can get into more detail than with a general survey, but the detail is lacking here. We have barely two pages on Toghril Beg. Alp Arslan gets three. Tamerlane gets a little over eight.

Still, if the reader is willing to supplement the framework set forth here with in-depth studies of the major players, dynasties and battles, Morgan's book will have served its purpose of providing a coherent "big picture" view.

I was a little disappointed with how skinny this book was when I got it in the mail, but the truth is that it provided me with several weeks of fascinating reading. Not at all dry or overly scholarly. Similar to the "Age of the Prophets" in tone, but the more limited scope makes for more focused reading. This isn't a textbook -- enjoy it!