Firdaws Al-Iqbal ― History of Khorezm

The first translation into English from Chaghatay, a medieval Turkic literary language of Central Asia, of a work by Uzbek historians Munis (1778-1829) and Agahi (1809-74), and indeed the first western translation of any major Chaghatay historical source for the history of Central Asia during the 18th and 19th centuries. Khorezm in a relatively small region in Central Asia lying in the lower basin of the Amu-Darya, including its delta. The history is especially detailed for the 18th and early 19th centuries, and is an example of Central Asian historiography. Editor and translator Yuri Bregel (central Eurasian studies, Indiana U.) supports the text with extensive historical and philological notes and a 77-page introduction discussing the historical background of the period when the history was written, the biographies of the authors, the history of the text, and its sources. He only indexes personal, geographical, and ethnic names. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Yuri Bregel, Ph.D. (1961) in History, Institute of Oriental Studies, Moscow, is Professor of Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University. His numerous publications on medieval and early modern history of Central Asia include also the text edition of Firdaws al-iqbal (Brill, 1988).