- A one-of-a-kind book that examines Persian celebrations from their earliest incarnations to their present state- Reaches out to Iranians worldwide, embracing and celebrating their cultural heritage- Glossy full-color photographs capture the spirit of these ancient traditions in the modern day'Sofreh' is Persian for 'spread' - referring to the colorful arrangements of flowers, condiments and objects of spiritual or cultural importance that are displayed at Persian ceremonies. As the title promises, this book is a visual feast. Flush with lavish historical illustrations and contemporary photography, it documents Persian marriage and New Year celebrations in rich detail. Sofreh pays homage to ancient traditions, discussing the symbiosis of symbolism and culture. Despite their ancestral roots, the featured ceremonies are infused with life and creativity. Modern fabrics are welcomed alongside refined antique textiles, creative floral designs, unconventional pieces of furniture, and unexpected objects. References to Persian poetry, literature, art and folklore stimulate the imagination, and the text is illuminated with exquisitely detailed extracts from old manuscripts, antique woven textiles and embroideries. Each volume centers around a series of original and at times highly elaborate sofreh creations. Together they comprise an extensive project, involving research into Persian ceremonies and sofreh history by an eminent scholar, and the design and creation of stunning compositions. Book One is about the Persian New Year (Nowruz), which is celebrated on the first day of Spring. Book Two explores Persian marriage and wedding customs, and the elaborate settings for marriage ceremonies (Aqd). These two lavishly illustrated volumes which make an enduring gift are devoted to showcasing sofreh compositions in all of their glory. Never before have the splendor and beauty of the sofreh been presented in such an intricate and novel fashion.

At the close of the nineteenth century, modern ideas of democracy and equality were slowly beginning to take hold in Iran. Exposed to European ideas about law, equality, and education, upper- and middle-class men and women increasingly questioned traditional ideas about the role of women and their place in society. In apparent response to this emerging independence of women, an anonymous author penned The Education of Women, a small booklet published in 1889. This guide, aimed at husbands as much as wives, instructed women on how to behave toward their husbands, counseling them on proper dress, intimacy, and subservience. One woman, Bibi Khanom Astarabadi, took up the author’s chal­lenge and wrote a refutation of his arguments. An outspoken mother of seven, Astarabadi established the first school for girls in Tehran and often advocated for the rights of women. In The Vices of Men she details the flaws of men, offering a scathing diatribe on the nature of men’s behavior toward women. Astarabadi mixes the traditional florid style of the time with street Persian, slang words, and bawdy language. This new edition faith­fully preserves the style and irreverent tone of the essays. The two texts, together with an introduction and afterword situating both within the customs, language, and social life of Iran, offer a rare candid dialogue between men and women in late nineteenth-century Persia.

In 1770, Astrakhan, on the left bank of the Volga River close to where it discharges into the Caspian Sea, was Russia's most important southern port through which all its trade with Iran and the Orient was conducted. Astrakhan had been a Tatar city until 1556 (when Ivan the Terrible conquered it), a fact reflected in the composition of its population in 1770: Tatars, Russians, Armenians, and Iranians. Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin, a young member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, lived for almost a year in the city in 1770 and left a very detailed account of its geography, history, people, economy, flora, and fauna. Gmelin first describes the model colony of Sarepta established, by special agreement with the Russian government, by the German Moravian Brothers in 1765. Then he moves his narrative to Astrakhan, the Russian outpost on the Caspian Sea and provides us with a detailed description of its history, including that of Stenko Razin's 1672 rebellion that devastated the port and its people. Gmelin takes us on an extensive tour of the city and provides us detailed plans and panoramas of the city, which was also important for its fisheries and salt works. All these economic activities are described in great detail, as are the flora and fauna of the city's environs. Gmelin's descriptions of these activities are embellished with exquisite drawings that show the people, their activities, the plants, and the animals. The descriptions of the city, its people and their activities are so vivid and given in such detail that the reader will literally be taken back in time and place. Willem Floor has published numerous works of history as well as translations, which include: volumes 3 and 4 of Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin's Travels Through Northern Persia 1770-1774; as well as Mirza Naqi Nasiri's Titles and Emoluments in Safavid Iran: A Third Manual of Safavid Administration. He has also translated, in collaboration with Hasan Javadi, The Heavenly Rose-Garden: A History of Shirvan & Daghestan by Abbas Qoli Aqa Bakikhanov; and Evlya Chelebi's Travels in Iran and the Caucasus, 1652 and 1655.

Games Persians Play is a study of the history, development, and change in the games played in Iran. Iranians, young and old, rich and poor, male and female, played a large variety of games during their 2500-year history. Some games were played just to while away the time, to entertain, to keep children occupied, to liven up a social event, or to celebrate the change of seasons. Others were multi-functional such as horse games and hunting, which were both an amusement and a military training exercise. Like elsewhere in the world traditional games are disappearing and being replaced by a less varied group of modern games, in particular spectator sports. This book introduces the reader to the rich menu of games played in Iran and the changes that have taken place therein. Willem Floor is a scholar of Persian history with more than 20 books in print.

Links with the Hinterland focuses on two related themes: the importance of what goes on in a port city's hinterland, and, the importance of a safe and secure road that connects a port city to its markets. What happened in the port of Bushehr was influenced by events in nearby towns such as Borazjan and Kazerun, and far off provinces such as Khuzestan, as well as by the actions of local chiefs controlling the land adjacent to the trade route. The histories of Borazjan and Kazerun show the importance of the behavior of local chiefs and of migrating tribes in keeping the caravan route secure or not. A breakdown of the port city's authority over its hinterland, in particular the trade route, impacted on its well-being both financially and politically. Likewise, the history of the Banu Kab in Khuzestan shows how the takeover of tribal leadership by a more commercially oriented lineage led to the rise of a rival port to Bushehr that ultimately would oust it from its leading position. The description of the commercial route between Bandar Abbas and Isfahan, during the Safavid period, highlights the importance of road infrastructure in linking a seaport with the markets in its hinterland. The ports in the Persian Gulf were but caravan termini. The ports themselves did not constitute a major market for imports; the real market for these goods was in the interior of Iran and, therefore, the road linking the port and its markets was a lifeline for both. This study makes clear that what happened along that road, connecting the terminus and the market, determined to a great extent how much volume was shipped and at what cost. Finally, Links with the Hinterland also demonstrates how the attacks on mainly British-owned goods on the Bandar Abbas-Isfahan road bestowed a hue of nationalist resistance to the robber chiefs during the First World War.

A small, sleepy port in the Persian Gulf, Bandar-e Lengeh has had a varied and checkered history since its launch onto the historical scene around 1750. In those days the tribal people of the region felt at home on both sides of the Gulf and often went to wherever they thought would offer them a better life. When the Qavasem Arabs moved to Lengeh and developed it, they turned it from a sleepy fishing town into a pirate's nest. They, together with their kith and kin in Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah, became the scourge of the Gulf until 1819 when the British burnt all three ports to the ground. After this, convinced that piracy was not worth the cost, the people of Lengeh became peaceful, and very successful as traders and pearl fishers. Lengeh became the distribution center for the entire Arabian Coast and rivaled Bahrain as the pearl clearing center of the Gulf. This success attracted people from all over the Gulf to come and live in Lengeh, making it a symbol of the Gulf migratory culture (havaleh). Lengeh's success and prosperity did not end because of competition, but because in 1903 the Iranian government enacted a new customs regime for all their ports-but Lengeh was an "Arabian" port located in Iran. As a result, Lengeh lost its competitive position to Dubai, which opened its doors to many of Lengeh's merchants. Thereafter, Lengeh declined and by 1930 it was once again a minor port and fishing town. The Persian Gulf: The Rise and Fall of Bandar-e Lengeh, The Distribution Center for the Arabian Coast, 1750-1930 is the third volume of the Persian Gulf series by Willem Floor. This book is a rich compendium of Iranian, Dutch, and British reports and primary sources. It is also full of enthralling research into the work of travelers in the region. While it is essential reading for all scholars of the history of the Gulf, it is also informative and satisfying for those readers interested in the history of the region in general. The previous volumes of the series are: The Persian Gulf: A Political and Economic History of 5 Port Cities, 1500-1750, and The Persian Gulf: The Rise of the Gulf Arabs, The Politics of Trade on the Persian Littoral, 1747-1792.

Bandar Abbas, once a small fishing village, became the gateway port for Iran after Shah Abbas defeated the Portuguese in 1622. However, with the fall of the Safavids and the withdrawal of the British East India Company in 1759 the port went into decline; by 1793 Bandar Abbas was under the direct control of Oman. In 1869 Iran had to resort to force of arms to take it back from Oman. Yet, this important port is hardly mentioned in the histories of Iran. For the first time in Bandar Abbas: The Natural Trade Gateway of Southeast Iran, Willem Floor, using primary sources, analyses the port's morphology, population, water supply, health, education, and living conditions during the Qajar period. Furthermore, he discusses in detail how Bandar Abbas came under Omani control; how the Qajars assumed direct control; as well as the town's vicissitudes under a parliamentary governed Iran, and the new centralizing Pahlavi state. The book also gives a detailed analysis of the nature of Bandar Abbas's trade and the reasons for its ups and downs; the role of European political and economic activities; central government institutions that were present in Bandar Abbas and the many new institutions that were created in the twentieth century. A similar comprehensive analysis is offered for Minab (a nearby town) with which Bandar Abbas had a symbiotic relationship that changed in the twentieth century. Based on primary sources this study of a major Persian Gulf port offers a comprehensive view of the "growing-up" pains Iran had to suffer to find its way into a modernizing world. The previous volumes of the series are: The Persian Gulf: A Political and Economic History of 5 Port Cities, 1500-1750; The Rise of the Gulf Arabs, The Politics of Trade on the Persian Littoral, 1747-1792; The Rise and Fall of Bandar-e Lengeh, The Distribution Center for the Arabian Coast, 1750-1930

Merchants and bankers managed much of nineteenth-century Iran's economy and finances. The ulama-clerical leaders-who considered themselves responsible for the spiritual welfare of their flock also played an important economic role, in particular, through management of religious endowments. Numerically, however, the most important group was that of the traders and craftsmen, who were organized into guilds and who formed thirty to fifty percent of the urban population. Finally, there were the unskilled, mostly seasonal, laborers. Guilds, Merchants and Ulama analyzes the major functions and characteristics of these groups, and discusses how they each coped with the pressures of the world market to which Iran was increasingly exposed and which resulted in the disappearance of jobs reducing Iran's economic and political independence. After 1870, Iran's economic situation was aggravated by an influx of peasants into the main cities significantly increasing the size of permanent unskilled labor in these cities. Guilds only provided some measure of social and economic benefits and protection to its members but could not prevent major downsizing, which is detailed in a contemporary report included here in translation. Meanwhile, both the merchants and the ulama demanded government action to better protect the country's economy and its independence. To make a bigger fist, the ulama, merchants and reformists mobilized the guilds to support their political ends. As such, the guilds provided the force that powered the political events, which resulted in the Iranian Constitutional Revolution in 1906. The ulama's interference in economic life only made matters worse. They had no grasp of economics, beyond stating that people should not be greedy. And the guilds, despite their visible role during the 1905-06 events, found themselves used, and discarded when they were no longer needed. This created the parameters for major structural change to finally take place after 1925. In Guilds, Merchants, and Ulama Willem Floor provides a detailed analysis of primary source references essential for a better understanding of the socio-economic conditions that led to Iran's push toward modernization in the first quarter of the twentieth century.

By any measure, Nader Shah -- founder of the Afsharid Dynasty -- ranks as a towering figure in Iranian history. Rising from the humblest of origins, he became a military commander of genius, restored an embattled Persia to imperial greatness, and proceeded to wield the power of the throne with a ruthlessness that approached derangement. Yet much about the man and his tumultuous times remains obscure. This book peers into the shadows by drawing on unusual source materials -- unpublished letters and reports written by the staff of the Dutch East India Company, who watched in dismay as the tyrant sacrificed the nation's economic health (and Dutch hopes for trade) to feed his war machine. The book looks at his entire life: how a shepherd boy mastered fighting skills, assembled armies, reunited Iran and freed it from Afghan occupation, invaded and plundered both India and Ottoman Turkey, and crowned himself Nader Shah of Iran after usurping the Safavid throne in 1736. Because there are no other contemporary reports, published or unpublished, of this length and geographical scope, much of the information offered here is unique. Nader Shah, who not only ruined neighbouring countries but also his own, is depicted in all his fury and bloodthirstiness -- traits often glossed over by later court chroniclers. At times the Dutch observers are so sickened by his total disregard for the well-being of his country and for human life that they pray to God to release Iran from his hold. Release came in 1747, when he was taken by surprise in his bed and assassinated -- but not before first killing two of the attackers. For the first time in English, "The Rise and Fall of Nader Shah" makes these primary-source eyewitness reports of an important period in Iranian history available to historians and students alike.

The history of the Persian Gulf during the eighteenth century is still little known. This gap is now being filled by the historian and renowned scholar Willem Floor, first with publication of The Persian Gulf: A Political and Economic History of Five Port Cities, 1500-1730, and now with The Persian Gulf: The Rise of the Gulf Arabs, The Politics of Trade on the Persian Littoral, 1747-1792. This study tells the fascinating story of the shift in trade from the lower to the upper Gulf, while there was also a partial shift of trade from the northern Persian coast to the southern Arab coast. It tells of the departure of first the Dutch then the British trading companies, and the rise of the local rulers who began to dominate political developments, whether it was the Imam of Oman in Masqat, the Qavasem in the Strait of Hormuz, the Ka'b in the Shatt al-Arab, Sheikh Naser in Bushire and Bahrain, Mir Mohanna in Dashtestan and at the head of the Gulf, and the 'Otobis at Kuwait, Bahrain and Zubara. And finally it tells of how, because of a lack of interest by the Persian and Ottoman governments in the region, the Bombay fleet of the East India Company increasingly used their naval power to protect commercial interests in the Gulf, which paved the way for a similar role played by the British Royal Navy in the nineteenth century.

In 1770 the young German scientist and explorer Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin embarked on a journey on behalf of the Russian Academy of Sciences and in the service of Catherine the Great. These heretofore little-read accounts of his travels and broad research in Northern Persia, first published in German in St. Petersburg in the 1770's, have now been translated for the first time into English by renowned scholar Willem Floor. In the two voyages recounted in this volume, Gmelin kept journals describing the customs, industry, political world, warfare, geography, and plant and animal life of Northern Persia, until his capture and imprisonment in the village of Parakay near the Caspian Sea in 1774--a misfortune that he also was able to record, and which is included here in the final volume of his travelogue.