A History of the Seljuks

Book excerpt: For the first time in English, this book provides a comprehensive history of the entire Seljuk period of Middle Eastern history. The Seljuks entered the Middle East from Central Asia in the mid-11th century, establishing the first Turkish Empire in the region between China and Byzantium. This empire lasted until the mid-13th century. In his Introduction, Leiser synthesizes and evaluates current Western and Turkish research on Seljuk history, highlighting the scholarship of Seljuk specialist Ibrahim Kafesoglu. In the main body of the book, Leiser presents his translation of Kafesoglu's seven-chapter monograph covering all aspects of Seljuk history--political, social, and cultural--from the rise of the empire to its collapse. The final section deals with the tumultuous dispute between Kafesoglu and another Seljuk scholar, Osman Turan, who subsequently accused Kafesoglu of plagiarism and of poor scholarship.