List of Illustrations
Preface
1 IRAN AND THE WORLD IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
Iran and its People
The Safavid Dynasty
Nader Shah Afshar
First-Person Testimony: Sheikh Hazin
2 THE RETURN OF THE ZANDS
The Lurs Go Home
Safavid Pretenders
Enter the Qajars
Pretenders Lost and Found
3 THE CONQUEST OF THE NORTH, 1759-1763
Exploits of Mohammad Khan and Sheykh-Ali Khan Zand
First-Person Testimony: Le Sieur Simon
Neutralization of the Qajars
Azerbaijan: The Defeat of Azad and Fath-Ali Khan
4 CONSOLIDATION OF THE CENTER, 1763-1766
Retribution and purges
Reconquest of the south: the revolt of Zaki Khan Zand
Lar, Yazd, and Kerman: the two Taqis
Curbing the Qajars, 1759-1777
5 THE PERSIAN GULF AND KHUZISTAN
Kharg Island: The Dutch and Mir Mahanna
Perspicacious Semi-Fiction: The "Rostam of Histories"
The Banu Ka'b
War with the Pashalik of Baghdad, 1774-1779
6 KARIM KHAN'S DEATH AND SUCCESSION, 1779-1795
Reigns of Zaki, Sadeq, Ali-Morad, and Ja'far Khan Zand (1779-1789)
Lotf-Ali Khan Zand (1789-1994)
First-Person Testimony: Mr Jones and Lotf-Ali Khan's diamonds
The Qajar Conquest
7 PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT AND FOREIGN RELATIONS
Western approaches
The Caspian Rim and Azerbaijan
Georgia and Transaraxia: into the Russian Orbit
Ottoman Turkey and India
The Dutch and French East India Companies
The British East India Company
8 KARIM KHAN'S CHARACTER AND ACHIEVEMENTS
The people's deputy
Religious policies
Rebuilding the economy
Rebuilding Shiraz
Leisure and the arts
The legend and the legacy
Bibliography
Index