The theme of this book is the wealth and diversity of Iranian culture. It traces the role in seventeen essays of the literature as a social force in Iran, and through this approach provides original insights into the political and social history of the region. The book examines a variety of topics from medieval to modern Iran: the rules of prosody in Persian poetry; Sadiq Chubak's short stories; the authorship of "The History of Shah Isma'il"; available sources for the study of social history in late Qajar Iran; European secondary studies on the Safavid period; Shah Abbas's policy of deporting and resettling Armenians; the conversion of the Mongol rulers to Islam; the Barmakid system of administration; and Baihaqui's account of the Ghaznavid vazir, Hasanak.