Scott C. Levi is Associate Professor of Central Asian History at The Ohio State University. He is author of The Indian Diaspora in Central Asia and Its Trade, 1550–1900 and editor of India and Central Asia: Commerce and Culture, 1500–1800.Ron Sela is Assistant Professor of Central Asian History in the Department of Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University Bloomington. He is author of The Legendary Biographies of Tamerlane: Islam and Heroic Apocrypha in Central Asia.

[A]n excellent collection, which will be a valuable sourcebook for courses on the history of Central Asia and Islamic history. As the first English-language anthology of historical sources on the region, it provides a wealth of materials, which can be used to cover a wide variety of themes. It should be on the syllabus of any undergraduate course on the history of Central Asia.(Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient) The collection of this large number of primary sources into a single volume in readable English translation and published in paperback will make this a widely used resource for teaching the history of Central Asia at English-language universities everywhere.(Ab Imperio) [T]he anthology is set up in an exemplary manner and the sources describe the extensive history . . . [It] will occupy an important place in studies on the history of Central Asia, the expansion of Islam, and the relationship between the peoples in the Islamic cultural world . . .(Asiatische Studien / Études Asiatiques) [T]his is a fascinating and much-needed collection.(Central Asian Survey) This careful compilation includes court chronicles, memoirs, legal documents, poetry, and more. The breadth of the coverage skillfully illustrates how Central Asia today is the result of many cultures, languages, and ethnicities. . . . Summing Up: Essential. A must for collections on Central Asia. October 2010, Vol. 48 No. 2(Choice)

• Note on Translation and TransliterationMapIntroductionPart 1. Central Asia in the Early Islamic Period, Seventh–Tenth CenturiesIntroductionA. Central Asia and the Arab ConquestsB. Central Asia under the SamanidsC. The Age of LearningPart 2. Encounter with the TurksIntroductionA. Turkic Peoples of the SteppeB. Qarakhanids: The First Turkic Muslim State in Central AsiaC. Central Asia in the Eleventh and Twelfth CenturiesPart 3. The Mongol EmpireIntroductionA. Temujin and the Rise of the Mongol EmpirePart 4. Timur and the TimuridsIntroductionA. Timur's Rise and RuleB. Central Asia in the Fifteenth CenturyPart 5. Central Asia in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth CenturiesIntroductionA. The Shïbanids and Central Asian Society in the Sixteenth CenturyB. Central Asia in the Seventeenth CenturyPart 6. Central Asia in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth CenturiesIntroductionA. The Age of TransitionB. The Uzbek Tribal DynastiesC. The "Great Game" to Russian RuleGlossaryIndex