Rudi Matthee's Books

Persia in Crisis

Safavid Decline and the Fall of Isfahan

By: Rudi Matthee

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Persia in Crisis

Safavid Decline and the Fall of Isfahan

By: Rudi Matthee

I.B.Tauris in association with the Iran Heritage Foundation The decline and fall of Safavid Iran is traditionally seen as the natural outcome of the unrelieved political stagnation and moral degeneration which characterised late Safavid Iran. "Persia in Crisis" challenges this view. In this ground-breaking new book, Rudi Matthee revisits traditional sources and introduces new ones to take a fresh look at Safavid Iran in the century preceding the fall of Isfahan in 1722, which brought down the dynasty and ushered in a long period of turbulence in Iranian history. Inherently vulnerable because of the country's physical environment, its tribal makeup and a small economic base, the Safavid state was fatally weakened over the course of the seventeenth century. Matthee views Safavid Iran as a network of precarious alliances subject to perpetual negotiation and the society they ruled as an uneasy balance between conflicting forces. In the later seventeenth century this delicate balance shifted from cohesion to fragmentation. An increasingly detached, palace-bound shah; a weakening link between the capital and the outlying provinces; the regime's neglect of the military and its shortsighted monetary policies combined to exacerbate rather than redress existing problems, leaving the country with a ruler too feeble to hold factionalism and corruption in check and a military unable to defend its borders against outside attack by Ottomans and Afghans. The scene was set for the Crisis of 1722. This book makes a major contribution to our understanding of Iranian history and the period that led to two hundred years of decline and eclipse for Iran.

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Page Count

420

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

0857720945

ISBN 13

9780857720948

Angels Tapping at the Wine-shop's Door

A History of Alcohol in the Islamic World

By: Rudi Matthee

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Angels Tapping at the Wine-shop's Door

A History of Alcohol in the Islamic World

By: Rudi Matthee

Islam is the only major world religion that resists the juggernaut of alcohol consumption. In many Islamic countries, alcohol is banned; in others, it plays little role in social life. Yet, Muslims throughout history did drink, often to excess--whether sultans and shahs in their palaces, or commoners in taverns run by Jews or Christians. This evocative study delves into drinking's many historic, literary and social manifestations in Islam, going beyond references to 'hypocrisy' or the temptations of 'forbidden fruit'. Rudi Matthee argues that alcohol, through its 'absence' as much as its presence, takes us to the heart of Islam. Exploring the long history of this faith--from the eight-century Umayyad dynasty to Erdogan's Turkey, and from Islamic Spain to modern Pakistan--he unearths a tradition of diversity and multiplicity in which Muslims drank, and found myriad excuses to do so. They celebrated wine and used it as a poetic metaphor, even viewing alcohol as a gift from God--the key to unlocking eternal truth. Drawing on a plethora of sources, Matthee presents Islam not as an austere and uncompromising faith, but as a set of beliefs and practices that embrace ambivalence, allowing for ambiguity and even contradiction.

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Page Count

525

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0197754651

ISBN 13

9780197754658

Persia in Crisis

Safavid Decline and the Fall of Isfahan

By: Rudi Matthee

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Persia in Crisis

Safavid Decline and the Fall of Isfahan

By: Rudi Matthee

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Page Count

533

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

0857731815

ISBN 13

9780857731814

Angels Tapping at the Wine-shop's Door

A History of Alcohol in the Islamic World

By: Rudi Matthee

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Angels Tapping at the Wine-shop's Door

A History of Alcohol in the Islamic World

By: Rudi Matthee

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525

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Oxford University Press

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ISBN 10

0197754651

ISBN 13

9780197754658

The Monetary History of Iran

From the Safavids to the Qajars

By: Rudi Matthee,Willem Floor,Patrick Clawson

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The Monetary History of Iran

From the Safavids to the Qajars

By: Rudi Matthee,Willem Floor,Patrick Clawson

The monetary history of a country provides important insights into its economic development, as well as its political and social history. This book is the first detailed study of Iran's monetary history from the advent of the Safavid dynasty in 1501 to the end of Qajar rule in 1925. Using an array of previously unpublished sources in ten languages, the authors consider the specific monetary conditions in Iran's modern history, covering the use of ready money and its circulation, the changing conditions of the country's mints and the role of the state in managing money. Throughout the book, the authors also consider the larger regional and global economic context within which the Iranian economy operated. As the first study of Iran's monetary history, this book will be essential reading for researchers of Iranian and economic history.

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Page Count

417

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

0857733532

ISBN 13

9780857733535

Book's by Rudi Matthee

Persia in Crisis

Persia in Crisis

Angels Tapping at the Wine-shop's Door

Angels Tapping at the Wine-shop's Door

Persia in Crisis

Persia in Crisis

Angels Tapping at the Wine-shop's Door

Angels Tapping at the Wine-shop's Door

The Monetary History of Iran

The Monetary History of Iran

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