Nomads in the Middle East

Beatrice Forbes Manz is Professor of History at Tufts University where she teaches the history of the Middle East and Inner Asia, with a particular interest in pastoral nomads. She is the author of The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane and Power, Politics and Religion in Timurid Iran (Cambridge University Press, 2007) which was awarded the Houshang Pourshariati Book Award in Iranian Studies, and the best-seller The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane (Cambridge University Press, 1989). She is also the author of numerous articles and chapters in collected words on the history of the Timurids, the Mongol Empire and nomad societies, including in The New Cambridge History of Islam, The Cambridge History of Inner Asia and The Cambridge History of War.

• Preface; Debate between sheep and grain; 1. Introduction; 2. Nomads in the establishment of the caliphate; 3. The rise of new peoples and dynasties; 4. Turkic tradition and Seljuqid rule; 5. Nomad conquest and rule; 6. After the Mongols: Timurids, Turkmen and Ottomans; 7. The rise of nomad tribes: 1500-1800; 8. Nomads in the modern Middle East; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

'The history of nomadic peoples has too often been dismissed as not worth investigating but Manz shows their interaction with sedentary societies displayed a remarkable continuity down to the 20th century-a wonderful corrective that throws fresh light on a neglected relationship. Manz's book restores the history of nomadic peoples in the Middle East and Central Asia to the place it deserves. Portraying them at the center of interactions with sedentary societies that lasted more than 1500 years, this uniquely comprehensive history documents their integral role in the region's political and economic history.' Thomas Barfield, Boston University