Togan, İsenbike Boğaziçi University - Center for Asian Studies - Department of History, Turkey , Togan, İsenbike Turkish Academy of Sciences, Turkey

Book Review: S. Frederick Starr. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press, 2013. 609 pp. + index.

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This impressive volume covering the historical and intellectual developments in Central Asia up to the 15th century begins with a modest approach. In the preface the author says, “This book was written not because I knew the answers to the questions it poses, or even because I had any particular knowledge of the many subjects and fields it touches upon, but because I myself wanted to read such a book.” Although the title suggests that the book starts with the Arab conquest (7-8th centuries), we do not encounter the Arabs until chapter 4. Instead, the preceding chapters (2 and 3) inform us about the pre-conquest situation.

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Bogazici Journal

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