ReOrienting the Sasanians

Khodadad Rezakhani is an Associate Research Scholar at the Sharmin and Bijan Mossavar-RahmanI Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies, Princeton University.

• Preliminaries: List of Illustrations; Acknowledgements; Series Editor's Preface; Maps; PrefaceIntroductionChapter 1: Sasanians and the SistanisChapter 2. Kushans and the SasaniansChapter 3. Kushano-Sasanians in East IranChapter 4. The Iranian Huns and the KidaritesChapter 5. The Alkhans in the Southern Hindu KushChapter 6. The Hepthalite 'Empire' and its SuccessorsChapter 7. Sogdiana in the Kidardite and Hepthalite PeriodsChapter 8. The Ne¯zak and Turk PeriodsChapter 9. Tokharestan and Sogdiana in the Late Sasanian PeriodGeneral Conclusions and PostscriptEpilogue and Excursus on the Shahnameh; Bibliography; Index

Despite slogging through difficult terrain, the book makes for a shockingly smooth read. Any difficulties following the complicated historical narrative is helpfully relieved by the clear and comprehensive conclusions furnished at the end of each chapter. Rezakhani is explicit about the limits of the evidence, and does an enviable job producing a narrative history despite these constraints... Rezakhani skillfully guides the reader through uncharted territories, and successfully centers East Iran as a subject worthy of study in its own right.