The Kizilbash were at once key players in and the foremost victims of the Ottoman-Safavid conflict that defined the early modern Middle East. Today referred to as Alevis, they constitute the second largest faith community in modern Turkey, with smaller pockets of related groups in the Balkans. Yet several aspects of their history remain little understood or explored. This first comprehensive socio-political history of the Kizilbash/Alevi communities uses a recently surfaced corpus of sources generated within their milieu. It offers fresh answers to many questions concerning their origins and evolution from a revolutionary movement to an inward-looking religious order.

About the Author
Ayfer Karakaya-Stump, Associate Professor of History, The College of William and Mary.


Book Information
ISBN 9781474432696
Author Ayfer Karakaya-Stump
Format Paperback
Page Count 400
Imprint Edinburgh University Press
Publisher Edinburgh University Press