Why read The Bukharan Crisis?

Book cover of The Bukharan Crisis: A Connected History of 18th Century Central Asia

Book description

In the first half of the eighteenth century, Central Asia's Bukharan Khanate descended into a crisis from which it would not recover. Bukharans suffered failed harvests and famine, a severe fiscal downturn, invasions from the north and the south, rebellion, and then revolution. To date, efforts to identify the cause…

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Asian history

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Bukharan Crisis as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Shoshana Keller

Author

This lively historiographical essay (yes, there is such a thing) blows up the old story of a stagnant Central Asia cut off from world trade by the maritime empires of early modern Europe. Levi looks at the economic, environmental, and military causes of dynastic collapse in Bukhara to show that the region was deeply connected to global currents even as it careened from one political crisis to another. This is a must-read for anyone interested in early modern world history.

From Shoshana's list on modern Central Asia.