Scott C. Levi is Associate Professor of Central Asian History at The Ohio State University. He is author of The Indian Diaspora in Central Asia and Its Trade, 1550-1900 and editor of India and Central Asia: Commerce and Culture, 1500-1800.

Ron Sela is Assistant Professor of Central Asian History in the Department of Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University Bloomington. He is author of The Legendary Biographies of Tamerlane: Islam and Heroic Apocrypha in Central Asia.

Note on Translation and Transliteration
Map
Introduction
Part 1. Central Asia in the Early Islamic Period, Seventh-Tenth Centuries
Introduction
A. Central Asia and the Arab Conquests
B. Central Asia under the Samanids
C. The Age of Learning
Part 2. Encounter with the Turks
Introduction
A. Turkic Peoples of the Steppe
B. Qarakhanids: The First Turkic Muslim State in Central Asia
C. Central Asia in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries
Part 3. The Mongol Empire
Introduction
A. Temujin and the Rise of the Mongol Empire
Part 4. Timur and the Timurids
Introduction
A. Timur's Rise and Rule
B. Central Asia in the Fifteenth Century
Part 5. Central Asia in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
Introduction
A. The Shïbanids and Central Asian Society in the Sixteenth Century
B. Central Asia in the Seventeenth Century
Part 6. Central Asia in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
Introduction
A. The Age of Transition
B. The Uzbek Tribal Dynasties
C. The "Great Game" to Russian Rule
Glossary
Index