Stephen Frederick Starr is een Amerikaanse expert op het gebied van Russische en Euraziatische aangelegenheden, een muzikant en een voormalig universitair president. Zijn werk richt zich op diepgaande inzichten in de geopolitieke en culturele nuances van deze regio's. Door zijn geschriften draagt hij bij aan een breder begrip van complexe internationale betrekkingen en geschiedenis. Zijn unieke perspectief combineert academische analyse met cultureel bewustzijn, waardoor hij een belangrijke stem is in internationale studies.
A portrait of the Arab enlightenment and its key figures, Ibn Sina and Biruni. In The Genius of Their Age, S. Frederick Starr brings to vibrant life an age when Muslim scientists and philosophers from Central Asia anticipated the Western renaissance of science by half a millennium.
Spanning four centuries and two continents, this narrative chronicles the journey of an American family, exploring their experiences and challenges across generations. It delves into themes of identity, migration, and the evolution of familial bonds against the backdrop of historical events. The book offers a rich tapestry of personal stories intertwined with broader social and cultural shifts, providing a unique perspective on the American experience and the diverse influences that shaped it.
"In this sweeping and richly illustrated history, S. Frederick Starr tells the fascinating but largely unknown story of Central Asia's medieval enlightenment through the eventful lives and astonishing accomplishments of its greatest minds--remarkable figures who built a bridge to the modern world. Because nearly all of these figures wrote in Arabic, they were long assumed to have been Arabs. In fact, they were from Central Asia--drawn from the Persianate and Turkic peoples of a region that today extends from Kazakhstan southward through Afghanistan, and from the easternmost province of Iran through Xinjiang, China. Lost Enlightenment recounts how, between the years 800 and 1200, Central Asia led the world in trade and economic development, the size and sophistication of its cities, the refinement of its arts, and, above all, in the advancement of knowledge in many fields."--Publisher website
In the summer of 2008, a conflict that appeared to have begun in the breakaway Georgian territory of South Ossetia rapidly escalated to become the most significant crisis in European security in a decade. The implications of the Russian-Georgian war will be understood differently depending on one's narrative of what transpired and perspective on the broader context. This book is designed to present the facts about the events of August 2008 along with comprehensive coverage of the background to those events. It brings together a wealth of expertise on the South Caucasus and Russian foreign policy, with contributions by Russian, Georgian, European, and American experts on the region.