Customer Reviews (2)

lost in many side steps
Having visited Bukhara personally in 1999, I hoped to find a nice description of the grandeur of the city through the ages. What I found was a book full of details, with names dropping without going into much detailabout the people mentioned. And the author takes far too many side steps(going into details which are not or less relevant for the main story)which make it hard to follow the main line. I am under the impression thatthe author wanted to create a scientific work with a documentation of everydetail he has found during his studies, rather than thinking as an authorabout the history he wants to tell.

Top book on origins of Islam in India and more
I read this book nearly 25 years ago and the longer I live, the moreimpressed I am with it.It gave me a deep appreciation for theArab-Persian-Turkic fusion that took place in Central Asia in the years900-1100 (approx).This Islam was the one that came to the Indiansubcontinent, even if the Arabs landed there a couple centuries earlier.Ithought of this book any number of times as I taught Indian studies overthe years and feel that it was one of the influential books in molding howI think about India (& Pakistan).It can only be even more usefultoday, now that Uzbekistan and the whole Central Asian region have regainedindependence and will be making their cultural impact on the world and morespecifically, on South Asia.If you are interested in Islam, in Centraland South Asia, in Iran or Turkish history, read this book ! ... Read more

Product Description
They were seeking religious freedom and the Second Coming of Christ in Central Asia. They found themselves in the care of a Muslim king. During the 1880s, Mennonites from Russia made a treacherous journey to the Silk Road kingdom of Khiva. Both Uzbek and Mennonite history seemed to set the stage for ongoing religious and ethnic discord. Yet their story became an example of friendship and cooperation between Muslims and Christians.

Pilgrims on the Silk Road challenges conventional wisdom about the trek to Central Asia and the settlement of Ak Metchet. It shows how the story, long associated with failed End Times prophecies, is being recast in light of new evidence. Pilgrims highlights the role of Ak Metchet as a refuge for those fleeing Soviet oppression, and the continuing influence of the episode more than twelve decades later. ... Read more

Product Description
Samarkand, Boukhara, Khiva: centered around these Central Asian cities is a spectacular artistic heritage of architecture and decoration that has remained, until recently, just out of reach of globalization. The informed text and architectural detail captured in color photography, plans, and notes of Samarkand reinstates the magnificent mosques, fortresses, and residences to their proper place in the study of Islamic art. The volume pays tribute to a culture of building that withstood cycles of conquest and continued to thrive until Soviet power set in, preserving some of the most authentic building details in Asia.
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