R.N. 23844/72 ISSN 0970-0293 NEW FROM CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS REINTERPRETING ISLAMIC HISTORIOGRAPHY ! By Tayeb El-Hibri is Assistant Professor of Near Eastern L Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst r The history of the early 'Abbasid caliphate in the eighth and ninth centuries has long been studied as a factual or interpretive synthesis of various accounts preserved in the medieval chronicles. Tayeb El-Hibri's book breaks with the traditional approach, applying a literary-critical reading to examine the lives of the caliphs. By facusing on the reigns of Harun al-Rashid and his successors, al-Amin and al-Ma'mum, as well as on the early Samarran period, the study demonstrates I how the various historical accounts were not in fact intended as faithful portraits of I the past, but as allusive devices used to shed light on controversial religious, political, and social issues of the period, as well as on more abstract themes such as 1999 behavior, morality, and human destiny. The tragedy of the Barmakids, the great 0521650232 civil war between the brothers, and the mihna of al-Ma'mun are examined as key historical moments which were debated obligquely and in dialogue with the earlier Pages: x+236 Islamic past. The analysis also reveals how the exercise of decoding Islamic histo- Hardcover riography, through an investigation of the narrative strategies and thematic motifs used in the chronicles, can uncover new layers of meaning and even identify the 155mm x 235mm early narrators. Special Price for Contents: India: Rs. 8507- • Historical background and introduction • Harun al-Rashid: where it all started or ended •Al-Amin: the challenge of regicide in Islamic memory • Al-Ma'mun: the heretic Caliph • The structure of civil war narratives • Al-Mutawakkil: an encore of the family tragedy • Conclusion • Select bibliography • Index TRADITIONAL INDUSTRY IN THE ECONOMY OF COLONIAL INDIA By Tirthankar Roy The Majority of manufacturing workers in South Asia are employed in industries that rely on manual labour and craft skills. Some of these industries have existed for centuries and survived great changes in consumption and technology over the past 150 years. In earlier studies, historians of the region focused on mechanized rather than craft industries, arguing that traditional manufacturing was destroyed or devitalized during the colonial period, and that 'modern' industry is substantially different. Exploring new material from research into five traditional industries. _____________ Tirthankar Roy's book contests these notions, demonstrating that while traditional industry did evolve during the Industrial Revolution, these transformations had a 1999 positive rather than destructive effect on manufacturing generally. In fact, the book 0521650127 suggests, several major industries in post-independence India were shaped by such transformations. Pages xi+252 Contents: Hardcover • Introduction • Markets and organization • Handloom weaving • Gold thread /. -v « , -T—-- ~ - ^> • . Special Price for (jari) • Brassware • Leather • Carpets • Conclusion r India: Rs. 8757- FOUNDATION BOOKS 4764/2A, 23, Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi - 110 002 • Tel. : 3277332, 3285851, 3285852 Fax: 3288534, Email: manas.saikia@ftooks.sprintrpg.erns.vsnl.net.in C-22, C Block, Brigade MM, K.R. Road, Jayanagar, Bangalore - 560082 Tel : 6644817, 6552764, Fax: 6651322, Email: fbooks.bang@fbooks.sprintrpg.ems.vsnl.net.in Plot No. 80, Service Industries, Shirvane, Sector-1, Nerul, Navi Mumbai - 400706 (Nearest Rly. Stn. - Jui Nagar) • Tel.: 7709172 Fax: 7709173, Email: cupmum@bom7,vsnl.net.in