El. knyga: Legendary Biographies of Tamerlane: Islam and Heroic Apocrypha in Central Asia

'Sela's book is a clear contribution to scholarship. He brings a relatively unknown body of fascinating material to our attention, and provides extensive translations of parts of this material, which give us an excellent view of what exists, helping us determine how to move forward. His work suggests new approaches to the history of a neglected period. Finally, the monograph gives us compelling evidence for the existence of a Tmrmania in Central Asia, long before we knew one existed, which continues to this day with fascinating ramifications. In all these ways Sela's work is a service to the scholarly community.' Anne Broadbridge, Journal of the American Oriental Society 'Sela's well-argued and concise study of a group of Persian and Turkic heroic stories devoted to the life of Amir Timur, or Tamerlane, brings to our attention a large body of literature that has until now been generally ignored or discounted by previous scholars of Central Asian history historians of modern Central Asia would do well to apply to their own works Sela's emphasis on manuscript sources, his imaginative use of popular literature, and his critical approach to much current scholarship.' Allen J. Frank, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies