New book: “A History of Herat, from Chingiz Khan to Tamerlane”

“A History of Herat, from Chingiz Khan to Tamerlane” (Edinburgh UP) is now in print (30th Sep 2022). Part 1 is “imperial and local histories”: political-military history of the Mongol invasions of Khurasan, sieges of Balkh, Marw, Nishapur, Herat; establishment by Mongols of the (Tajik) Kartid dynasts at Herat; Kartid-Ilkhanid cooperation and clashes; Herat’s relations with Delhi Sultanate; independent Kartid rule until Tamerlane invasion of Iran. Part 2 is “social, economic, and cultural” history: early Mongol efforts and later Ilkhanid & Kartid efforts to revive agriculture & commerce in Herat Quarter (includes appendices on land and water use); urban renewal in Herat (includes appendix of known buildings); and “the fortified landscape of Herat and its environs” (with a catalog of known fortifications in Khurasan).

Available at https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-a-history-of-herat.html

Related to the Kartids are the Sufis of Turbat-i Jam, a Sunni community still thriving in Iran. They are the subjects of “The Sufi Saint of Jam: History, Religion, and Politics of a Sunni Shrine in Shiʿi Iran” (Cambridge UP, 2021). Jami shaykhs married Kartid kings and supported them as spiritual guides and shaykhs al-Islam, but also betrayed them by allying with Tamerlane.

Available at https://www.cambridge.org/9781108839693