Chase F. Robinson is Lecturer in Islamic History at the University of Oxford.

'This book is an excellent contribution to early Islamic history. By concentrating on a small area, almost a microcosm, which has a particularly rich historiographical tradition, Robinson has made a major contribution to our understanding of the more general processes of the formation of the Islamic state.' History

• Preface; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Note on dates and citations; Map: the fertile crescent in the early Abbasid period; 1. Conquest history and its uses; 2. The seventh-century Jazira; 3. From garrison to city: the birth of Mosul; 4. A Christian élites in the Mosuli hinterland: the shaharija; 5. Islam in the north: Jaziran Kharijism; 6. Massacre and narrative: the Abbasid Revolution in Mosul I; 7. Massacre and élite politics: the Abbasid Revolution in Mosul II; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

Chase F. Robinson is Lecturer in Islamic History at the University of Oxford.

'This book is an excellent contribution to early Islamic history. By concentrating on a small area, almost a microcosm, which has a particularly rich historiographical tradition, Robinson has made a major contribution to our understanding of the more general processes of the formation of the Islamic state.' History

• Preface; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Note on dates and citations; Map: the fertile crescent in the early Abbasid period; 1. Conquest history and its uses; 2. The seventh-century Jazira; 3. From garrison to city: the birth of Mosul; 4. A Christian élites in the Mosuli hinterland: the shaharija; 5. Islam in the north: Jaziran Kharijism; 6. Massacre and narrative: the Abbasid Revolution in Mosul I; 7. Massacre and élite politics: the Abbasid Revolution in Mosul II; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.