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THE EMERGENCE OF THE `ABBASID AUTOCRACY: THE `ABBASID ARMY, KHURASAN AND ADHARBAYJAN. By FUKUZO AMABE, Kyoto University Press, 1995 xi + 322pp.
Professor Amabe has produced a thorough and workmanlike discussion of aspects of the early `Abbasid State. The title is slightly misleading as there is no one theme which is developed and argued throughout but rather a series of individual studies. There are chapters on the Qays-Yemen dispute during the Umayyad caliphate, the `Abbasid Revolution in Khurasan, the early `Abbasid army, the lords of Khurasan and the early `Abbasid government, Babak and the Abbasids, the army of al-Ma'mun and al-Mu`tas.im, the Zanj revolt, the Iraqi Qara,mita and the army of al-Muwaffaq and al-Mu`tad. id.
As can be seen from this list, the emphasis is heavily on military history and military organization. These is almost no discussion of administration or the economy and none of general cultural and...