8vo. x, 277 pp. 1 map, b/w illustrations, cloth in pictorial publisher’s wrappers, previous owner’s name inscribed verso front & lower end paper, notes, index, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, first edition, 1980.

Synopsis

The book provides, in a nontechnical language, a comprehensive history of the Safavid dynasty. The author considers the origins of the Safavid family, the course of the revolutionary movement which brought it to power and the problems facing Shah Ismail I after the establishment of the Safavid state in 1501. He describes the development of a multiracial society in Iran during the sixteenth century, the policies of Shah ‘Abbas I which brought the Safavid state to the height of its power and prosperity, and the reasons for its decline during the latter part of the seventeenth century and its eventual fall. As well as covering the political history of the period, the book includes chapters on the economic and social structure of the state, on intellectual and artistic life under the Safavids and on relations with Europe.