Research Catalog

Title

Lost enlightenment : Central Asia's golden age from the Arab conquest to Tamerlane / S. Frederick Starr.

Author

Starr, S. Frederick.

Publication

Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2013]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xxxvii, 634 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps; 25 cm

Summary

In this sweeping and richly illustrated history, S. Frederick Starr tells the fascinating but largely unknown story of Central Asia's medieval enlightenment through the eventful lives and astonishing accomplishments of its greatest minds--remarkable figures who built a bridge to the modern world. Because nearly all of these figures wrote in Arabic, they were long assumed to have been Arabs. In fact, they were from Central Asia--drawn from the Persianate and Turkic peoples of a region that today extends from Kazakhstan southward through Afghanistan, and from the easternmost province of Iran through Xinjiang, China. Lost Enlightenment recounts how, between the years 800 and 1200, Central Asia led the world in trade and economic development, the size and sophistication of its cities, the refinement of its arts, and, above all, in the advancement of knowledge in many fields. -- Publisher website.

Subject

• Asia, Central > History > To 1500
• Asia, Central > Civilization > History > To 1500

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages [541]-609) and index.

Contents

The center of the world -- Worldly urbanists, ancient land -- A cauldron of skills, ideas, and faiths -- How Arabs conquered Central Asia and Central Asia then set the stage to conquer Baghdad -- East wind over Baghdad -- Wandering scholars -- Khurasan : Central Asia's rising star -- A flowering of Central Asia : the Samanid dynasty -- A moment in the desert : Gurganj under the Mamuns -- Turks take the stage : Mahmud of Kashgar and Yusuf of Balasagun -- Culture under a Turkic marauder : Mahmud's Ghazni -- Tremors under the dome of Seljuk rule -- The Mongol century -- Tamerlane and his successors -- Retrospective : the sand and the oyster.

Call Number

JFE 13-8824

ISBN

• 9780691157733 (hardcover)
• 0691157731 (hardcover)

LCCN

2013013684

OCLC

840582136

Author

Starr, S. Frederick.

Title

Lost enlightenment : Central Asia's golden age from the Arab conquest to Tamerlane / S. Frederick Starr.

Publisher

Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2013]

Type of Content

text

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages [541]-609) and index.

Research Call Number

JFE 13-8824