Sayrami provides a gripping tale of political upheaval and military campaigns in mid-nineteenth-century East Turkestan: a firsthand account of shifting alliances and betrayal, bloody rebellions and massacres in a region where different empires collide. This brilliantly readable translation and insightful commentary is essential reading for those wishing to understand the region better.
Rachel Harris, SOAS With flawless mastery of ... Read morethe Chaghatai language, Schluessel has offered a brilliant English translation of the Tarikh-i Ḥamidi. This translation, and his excellent introduction, will be of great interest for Central Asia scholars as a political and intellectual history of the Uyghur homeland and a local history of the Qing empire’s Central Asian Muslim periphery.
Ablet Kamalov, Turan University, and president of Central Eurasian Studies Society The Tarikh-i Ḥamidi is an irreplaceable history that has been completely inaccessible to general readers. Thanks to Schluessel’s excellent translation, this important and fascinating text is available in plain English. Scholars and students can now gain insight into the experiences of the Uyghur people through the voice of one of their greatest writers.
Hodong Kim, Seoul National University It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of Eric Schluessel's translation of the Tarikh-i Ḥamidi. In its ongoing efforts to erase Uyghur culture, the Chinese party-state has pulled this text from the shelves. To buy it, read it, and share it is a defiant act of cultural preservation.
James Millward, author of The Silk Road: A Very Short Introduction Show Less