David Durand-Guédy, Ph.D. (2004), is a historian specializing in pre-Mongol Iran. He has published Iranian Elites and Turkish Rulers: A History of Iṣfahān in the Saljūq Period (Routledge, 2010), and many articles on the relationship of Turko-Mongol rulers to city-life.Roy Parviz Mottahedeh, Ph.D. (1970) is the Gurney Research Professor of History at Harvard University. He has written extensively on the history of the Middle East, including Loyalty and Leadership in an Early Islamic Society (Princeton University Press, 1980), The Mantle of the Prophet (Pantheon Books, 1985; Oneworld, 2002, 2008), and Lessons in Islamic Jurisprudence (Oneworld, 2005).Jürgen Paul, Ph.D. (1989), Universität Hamburg, is Professor Emeritus of Islamic Studies. He has published widely on the pre-Mongol history of Iran and Central Asia.