The importance of the Safavid period (1501 1736) in Iranian history has been increasingly recognised. Iran Under the Safavids aims at providing the student and general reader, in non-technical language, with a comprehensive history of the Safavid dynasty. Professor Savory considers the origins of the Safavid family, the course of the revolutionary movement which brought it to power and the problems facing Sh h Ism 'il I after the establishment of the Safavid state in 1501. He describes the development of a multi-racial society in Iran during the sixteenth century, the policies of Sh h 'Abb s...