ALEXANDRE POPOVIC, The Revolt of African Slaves in Iraq in the 3rd/9th Century, trans. Léon King (Princeton, N.J.: Markus Wiener Publishers, 1999). Pp. 180. $18.95 paper.

Abstract

The story of the Zanj revolt in Basra and Khuzistan against the Abbasid caliphate between the years 869 and 883 has received little extensive study by historians. This is not unusual given that, as with other important political events of this period, the information we have in the medieval sources is scarce. Alexandre Popovic makes a significant attempt to provide a comprehensive outline of the Zanj revolt and stress its social and political dimensions. This book, originally a French doctoral thesis submitted in the early 1960s, was first published in 1976. Now, with a grant from the French Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, the book has been translated into English.