The Safavids ruled Persia for nearly two and a half centuries, longer than any other dynasty since the pre-Islamic period. this book on Safavid Persia is divided into two sections, the first of which includes studies on the historiography and the religious politics of the period. Among the contributions to the second section are chapters on the silk industry, which brought European merchants into the country and at the same time exposed the Persian economy to the vagaries of world trade on the capital city of Esfahan, beautified by successive Shahs and on the Safvids' reluctance to adopt...