"A.C.S. Peacock's book, Mediaeval Islamic Historiography and Political Legitimacy: Bal'ami's Tarikhnama is the first research monograph on this major historical work and shows how its composition and reception were influenced by political circumstances. Commissioned by the ruler of one of the largest and most powerful Muslims states of the tenth century, the Samanid dynasty of Central Asia, and composed by his vizier, the Tarikhnama tells us much about the politics and ideology of the Samanid state, which remains comparatively unstudied despite its importance in Islamic history. Future generations continued to adapt the text in accordance with their own political concerns, meaning its manuscripts vary immensely from one another." "Using newly discovered manuscripts, this study sheds much new light, not just on mediaeval Islamic history and the development of Islamic historiography, but also on problems in manuscripts and the transmission of their texts."--BOOK JACKET.