A history of the Tajiks : Iranians of the East / Richard Foltz

Includes bibliographical references (pages 216-224) and index

Who are the Tajiks? -- The prehistory of the Tajiks -- Sogdians and Bactrians -- The Samanid Empire and the new Persian renaissance -- Tajiks and Turks -- The Soviet period -- The Republic of Tajikistan -- Tajiks beyond the borders : Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, China and the diaspora -- What future for the Tajiks? -- Afghanistan at a stone's throw

In this comprehensive and up to date history, from prehistoric proto-Indo-Iranian times to the post-Soviet period, Richard Foltz traces the complex linguistic, cultural and political history of the Tajiks, a Persian-speaking Iranian ethnic group from the modern-day Central Asian states of Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan. In eight chapters, the author explores the revitalisation of Persian culture under the Samanid Empire in the Tajik heartlands of historical Khorasan and Transoxiana; analyses the evolution of the politics of Tajik identity; and traces the history of the ethnic Tajik diaspora today.-- Provided by publisher