Boats, monsters, and people making questionable decisions - a decent summary of my reading list

Dear Reader,

If you follow me on social media, you know I love to share bits from the historical research I do for my books, primarily on the medieval Islamic world. I’ve had a lot of people ask for a reading list, so here it is. Couple of caveats:

• This is a personal list of titles I can pull from my brain and bookshelf at this particular time (though I’ll add some new ones as I go). I read some of these books years ago and am not vouching for the quality (or lack thereof) of all. Trust me, some already got knocked off the list. Also, regarding the contemporary folktales that I’m listing – as you might imagine, society was different and some of this is pure pulp adventure. There’s a lot of racism, sexism, ableism, etc so you might want to know that going in.
• “Medieval Islamic world” is a vague description, and I’m sure people have different parameters for what fits. Again, personal list, so I’ll be throwing in some that don’t fit (I’ve got a strong affection for the Mughal world, as well as pre-Islamic Persia, Mesopotamia and the Gulf. Also, this is in no way comprehensive. I’m not listing religious works here because I’m not qualified to do so, and though this part of the world was renowned for science and philosophy, I tend to be more interested in medical and cultural history, trade, exploration, and folklore. My once upon a time academic interest was in the Indian Ocean littoral, so forgive the general absence of places like Islamic Spain and the Ottoman Empire.
• I also read a LOT of academic articles. I might attempt a compilation in the future, but just know that there’s plenty of great material in the format as well if you’re interested in reading further.

I hope you enjoy! Feel free to tell me your thoughts (or recommendations) on social media
- Shannon Chakraborty

Podcasts (most of these have a a broader focus as well)
Head On History with Dr. Ali Olomi
Ajam Media Collective
New Books Network Indian Ocean World
Ottoman History Podcast
Fall of Civilizations

Narrative histories

• Islam and Healing: Loss and Recovery of an Indo-Islamic Medical Tradition, 1600-1900 by Seema Alevi
• The Rise and Fall of Swahili States by Chapurukha M. Kusimba
• The Sultan’s Shadow by Christiane Bird (about the Zanzibar Sultanate in the 1800s and the true and utterly bonkers story of Princess Salma – whose diary is listed here as well)
• Beyond Timbuktu: an intellectual history of Muslim West Africa by Ousmane Oumar Kane
• Arab Seafaring: in the Indian Ocean in Ancient and Early Medieval Times by George Hourani
• The Great Sea: a human history of the Mediterranean by David Abulafia
• The Silk Roads: a new history of the world by Peter Frankopan
• The Ocean of Churn: how the Indian Ocean shaped world history by Sanjeev Sanyal
• Dhow Cultures of the Indian Ocean: cosmopolitanism, commerce and Islam by Abdul Sheriff
• Zanzibar: its history and its people by W. H. Ingrams
• Monsoon by Robert Kaplan, mostly just for the Indian Ocean history in the beginning not the foreign policy
• The Crusades through Arab Eyes by Amin Maalouf
• The Forgotten Queens of Islam by Fatema Mernissi (and honestly, anything else by her that you can get your hands on)
• Destiny Disrupted: a history of the world through Islamic eyes by Tamim Ansary
• Lost History: the enduring legacy of Muslim scientists, thinkers and artists by Michael Hamilton Morgan
• Centering Black Narrative: Black Muslim Nobles Among the Early Pious Muslims by Ahmad Mubarak
• Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World by Lilia Zaouali
• When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World by Hugh Kennedy
• The Warrior Women of Islam by Remke Kruk
• The Arabian Nights, a companion and guide to the history behind them by Robert Irwin
• Concubines and Courtesans: Women and Slavery in Islamic History edited by Matthew S. Gordan and Kathryn A. Hain
• The Medieval Islamic Underground by CE Bosworth
• Criminal Underworld in a Medieval Islamic Society: Narratives from Cairo and Damascus Under the Mamluks
• Aden and the Indian Ocean Trade by Roxani Eleni Margariti
• Abraham’s Luggage by Elizabeth A. Lambourn
• Lost Maps of the Caliphs by Yossef Rapoport and Emilie Savage-Smith
• The Race for Paradise by Paul M. Cobb
• Women and the Fatimids in the World of Islam by Delia Cortese and Simonetta Calderini
• Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane
• Caravans of Gold, Fragments of Time: art, culture and exchange across medieval Saharan Africa
• The Islamic World, a history in objects with The British Museum
• Legend of the Fire Spirits: jinn and genies from Arabia to Zanzibar by Robert Lebling
• The Graves of Tarim by Engseng Ho
• Oman, a maritime history by al Salimi and Staples
• Making Big Money in 1600 by Nelly Hanna
• Golden Rhinoceros, histories of the African Middle Ages by François-Xavier Fauvelle
• Monsoon Islam: Trade and Faith on the Medieval Malabar Coast by Sebastian Prange
• Islam, Arabs, and the Intelligent World of the Jinn by Amira El-Zein
• Islamic Maps by Yossef Rapaport (gorgeous, gorgeous maps)
• Trickster Travels: the search for Leo Africanus by Natalie Zemon Davis
• Tell This in My Memory: stories of enslavement from Egypt, Sudan, and the Ottoman Empire by Eve M. Troutt Powell
• Classic Ships of Islam: from Mesopotamia to the Indian Ocean by Dionisius A. Agius (in my opinion, the most thorough and updated writer of Islamicate maritime history in the Indian Ocean--apologies, Hourani!)
• Marriage, Money and Divorce in Islamic Society by Yossef Rapoport
• Women in the Medieval Islamic World by Gavin R.G. Hambly

 
Primary Sources

• Selections from the Art of Party-Crashing in Medieval Iraq by al Khatib al Baghdadi and translated by Emily Selove – Yes, this book is real and it’s amazing. Did you know you could adapt hadith science to tales of party-crashing? Because this is basically that.
• Writings from Ancient Egypt translated by Toby Wilkinson
• The Travels of Ibn Jubayr
• The Travels of Ibn Battuta: for both the exciting tales of discovery and the fact that a good portion of this honestly reads like a grumpy Yelp review. It’s glorious.
• Mission to the Volga by Ahmad ibn Fadlan
• Accounts of India and China by Abu Zayd al Sirafi
• An Imam in Paris: Account of a Stay in France by an Egyptian Cleric (1826-1831) by Rifa’a Rafi’ al-Tahtawi and translated by Daniel L. Newman
• The Book of Wonders of India by Buzurg ibn Shahriyar: a 9th century captain’s account of sailor tales
• Scents and Flavors: a 13th Syrian cookbook, translation through Library of Arabic Literature
• Classical Arabic Literature anthology by Geert Jan Van Gelder
• Consorts of the Caliphs: women and the court of Baghdad by Ibn al-Sai and translated by Shawkat M. Toorawa and the editors of LAL
• The Muqaddimah: an introduction to history by Ibn Khaldun
• Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems by al Masudi, the famed historical and geographic account of the world
• Marvels of Creation by Zakariya al Qazwini, worth a search for the stunning images of animals and fantastical creatures alone
• Al Biruni’s accounts of India
• Accounts of the Cairo Geniza
• The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
• Memoirs of an Arabian Princess of Zanzibar by Emily Ruete (the diary of the aforementioned Princess Salma of Zanzibar whose personal account of treason and eventual running off to Europe with her lover is phrased far more delicately. Be advised, between the awesome shade thrown at European customs is a rather cruel defense of slavery).
• The Book of Contemplation by Usama ibn Munqidh, a twelfth-century noble's view of the Crusades
• Brains Confounded by the Ode of Abu Shaduf by Yusuf al-Shirbini, an extremely sarcastic, snobbish (but hysterical) contemporary satire of rural Egypt
• A Traveler in Thirteenth Century Arabia: Ibn al-Mujawair's Tarikh al-Mustabsir (very entertaining, terribly raunchy) translated by G. Rex Smith
• The Book of Charlatans by al-Jawbari (the best 13th guides to tricksters ever) translated by the Library of Arabic Literature
• A Physician on the Nile by 'Abd Al-Latif al-Baghdadi (13th century account of Egypt, both fascinating and tragic as the plague arrives)

 
Folktales
(I know people have issues with this word, but there are no religious texts listed here. These are stories people told to entertain one another, many at the time understanding—and often complaining—that they were fictional (often purposeful elaborations on actual figures or histories as in the case of the Hamzanama or Shahnama). Many of these have multiple retellings, translations, and available editions (some of which are available online). I highly recommending googling them first as their origins are often just as fascinating)

• The Shahnama; the one, the only 
• Tales of the Marvelous and News of the Strange
• The Hamzanama
• Kalila wa Dimna
• The 101 Nights, no this is not a typo. The Library of Arabic Lit has a translation
• One Thousand and One Nights. I’ve been meaning to check out Hanan al Shaykh’s new translation
• Layla and Majnun
• Sirat al Amira Dhat al Himma, the Tale of the Lady Dhat al Himma during the Umayyad/Abbasid wars, translation by Melanie Magidow
• Sirat al Zahir Baybars, Egyptian epic poem of the aforementioned Mamluk sultan
• Sirat 'Antarah ibn Shaddad​
• The Ni’matnama, The Sultan’s Book of Delights
• The Arabian Nights by Muhsin Mahdi and translated by Hussein Haddawy: This translation is of the complete text of the Mahdi edition, the definitive Arabic edition of a fourteenth-century Syrian manuscript, which is the oldest surviving version of the tales and considered to be the most authentic
• The Adventures of Sayf Ben Dhi Yazan by Lena Jayyusi
• Aladdin by Yasmine Seale
• Sinbad and Other Stories from the Arabian Nights by Husain Haddawy
• The Annotated Arabian Nights, edited by Paulo Lemos Horta and translated by Yasmine Seal: my new favorite. gorgeously illustrated with an incredible amount of accompanying notes and history

Historical Fiction
(a complete mix here, just a few of my favorites for fun)

• Arabian Nights and Days by Naguib Mahfouz: my favorite book of all time (and really, everything by him is extraordinary)
• Samarkand by Amin Maalouf
• Zayni Barakat by Gamal al Ghitani
• The Moor’s Account by Laila Lalami
• The Desert of Souls by Howard Andrew Jones
• The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan
• The Angel with One Hundred Wings by Daniel Horch
• Tree of Pearls, Queen of Egypt by Jurji Zaydan
• The Caliph's Sister by Jurji Zaydan
• The Pasha of Cuisine by Saygin Ersin
• The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson
• The Lover by Laury Silvers
• Mansa Musa of Mali by Amir Webb
• The Time-Travels of the Man Who Sold Pickles and Sweets by Khairy Shalaby
• A Sultan in Palermo by Tariq Ali
• The Watermelon Boys by Ruqaya Izzidien
• The Saddlebag by Bahiyyih Nakhjavani
• Moving the Palace by Charif Majdalani
• Siraaj by Radwa Ashour

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