Little is known about the Arab migrants who settled on the Iranian coast between Bushehr and Lengeh in the late 1500s. They were a disparate group of small tribes of sailors, traders, fishermen, pearl divers, and cultivators. Although they were all referred to as the Bani Hula, they were not a uniform group. In fact, they were each other’s fiercest competitors for access to the pearl banks. This frequently led to bloody and murderous encounters and feuds.[read more>>]

Links with the Hinterland focuses on two related themes: the importance of what goes on in a port city’s hinterland, and, the importance of a safe and secure road that connects a port city to its markets.[read more>>]

Although most people do not speak of theater and Iran in the same breath, dramatic expression has always been a fixture of Iranian culture.[read more>>]

Until Now, there have been no books and only a few articles available in English that deal with the actual practice of medicine in nineteenth and early twentieth-century Iran.[read more>>]

In the nineteenth century, Iranian reformers wanted to create an independent, modern state that could stand on its own feet.[read more>>]

Guilds, Merchants and Ulama analyzes the major functions and characteristics of these groups, and discusses how they each coped with the pressures of the world market to which Iran was increasingly exposed and which resulted in the disappearance of jobs reducing Iran’s economic and political independence.[read more>>]

The Heavenly Rose-Garden is a fascinating portrait of the Caucasus at the dawn of the modern era.[read more>>]

“Lucidly demonstrates how much Nasir al-Din’s approach to government owed to his understanding of time-honored Iranian traditions of kingship. The depth of Amanat’s analysis enables him to place the beginning of this monarch’s life in its true historical context…[read more>>]

With a discerning eye for detail, Wills wrote an intimate anthropological account of Qajar-era Iran, rich with description of everyday life, popular beliefs and practices, and arts and crafts, as well as health practices and communications that were his professional concern.[read more>>]

“Using private and official English and French primary sources, Iradj Amini gives us a clear and vivid description of Napoleon’s diplomatic adventures in Persia.” – Le Quotidien de Paris.[read more>>]