The Ornament of Histories: A History of the Eastern Islamic Lands AD 650-1041

'The Zayn al-Akhbar of Gardizi is a major historical source on the eastern Iranian lands during 650-1041 AD. This work is of particular importance for the histories of Samanid and Ghaznawid rule over those regions, including especially Khusrasan, Afghanistan and Transoxiana. The purely historical section of this major text for Persian studies, known to and used by orientalists for more than a century now, has never before been translated into English. The present translation not only fills this gap, but it does so in a most praiseworthy manner, and the translator, Professor Bosworth, is amply qualified for the task. Not only has Professor Bosworth been a major contributor to the medieval history of the eastern Iranian world, but he has shown in this and his other translation works a masterful command of the Persian language as used in such works. His elaborate commentaries which explain and contextualize numerous passages and enhance the accessibility of this text, reflect his unrivalled command of the subject matter as well as an excellent understanding of the classical Persian language and its intricacies. All in all, this is an excellent annotated translation of this important historical text by a most qualified scholar.' Farhad Daftary is Co-Director and Head of the Department of Academic Research and Publications at The Institute of Ismaili Studies. An authority on Ismaili studies, he is a consulting editor of Encyclopaedia Iranica, co-editor of the Encyclopaedia Islamica as well as the general editor of the Ismaili Heritage Series and the Ismaili Texts and Translations Series.