Beatrice Forbes Manz is an American
historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...
of the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
and
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
who specializes in
nomad
A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the popu ...
s and the
Timurid dynasty
The Timurid dynasty ( chg, , fa, ), self-designated as Gurkani ( chg, , translit=Küregen, fa, , translit=Gūrkāniyān), was a Sunni Muslim dynasty or clan of Turco-Mongol originB.F. Manz, ''"Tīmūr Lang"'', in Encyclopaedia of Islam, O ...
. She currently works as a
professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...
of history at
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...
.
Her 1989 book ''The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane'' is considered one of the most authoritative accounts of the career of the conqueror
Timur
Timur ; chg, ''Aqsaq Temür'', 'Timur the Lame') or as ''Sahib-i-Qiran'' ( 'Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction'), his epithet. ( chg, ''Temür'', 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( chg, ''Temür Kür ...
.
She received a
bachelor's
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ye ...
from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in 1970 and a
master's
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. in Middle Eastern studies from the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
in 1974, then returned to Harvard for a
doctorate
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...
in Inner Asian and Altaic studies which she received in 1983.
She is a fellow of the
Massachusetts Historical Society
The Massachusetts Historical Society is a major historical archive specializing in early American, Massachusetts, and New England history. The Massachusetts Historical Society was established in 1791 and is located at 1154 Boylston Street in Bost ...
and, , president of the
American Institute of Iranian Studies The American Institute of Iranian Studies (AIIrS) is a non-profit consortium of US universities and museums, founded in 1967, for the purpose of promoting Iranian and Persian studies. AIIrS facilitates academic and cultural exchange between the US ...
.
She is the child of William H. Forbes and the well-known
endocrinologist
Endocrinology (from ''endocrine'' + '' -ology'') is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions known as hormones. It is also concerned with the integration of developmental events ...
Anne Pappenheimer Forbes
Anne Pappenheimer Forbes (1911–1992) was an American endocrinologist. A graduate of Radcliffe College and Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, she was an associate of Fuller Albright, who was the endocrinology chief at Harvard Medical Sc ...
.
Her publications include:
* ''The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane'' (
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press
A university press is an academic publishing hou ...
, 1989)
* ''Power Politics and Religion in Timurid Iran'' (Cambridge University Press, 2007)
** Winner of the
Middle East Studies Association's 2007 Houshang Pourshariati Iranian Studies Book Award
* "Tamerlane's Career and its Uses," ''
Journal of World History
The ''Journal of World History'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that presents historical analysis from a global point of view, focusing especially on forces that cross the boundaries of cultures and civilizations, including large-scale populat ...
''13.1 (2002)
* "Temür and the Problem of a Conqueror's Legacy," ''
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
The ''Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society'' is an academic journal which publishes articles on the history, archaeology, literature, language, religion and art of South Asia, the Middle East (together with North Africa and Ethiopia), Central Asia ...
''(April 1998)
* "Nomad and Settled in the Timurid Military," in
Reuven Amitai
Reuven Amitai ( he, ראובן עמיתי; born August 23, 1955), also Reuven Amitai-Preiss, is an Israeli-American historian and writer, specializing in pre-modern Islamic civilization, especially Syria and Palestine during the time of the Mamlu ...
and Michal Biran, eds., ''Mongols, Turks, and Others: Eurasian Nomads and the Sedentary World ''(
Brill
Brill may refer to:
Places
* Brielle (sometimes "Den Briel"), a town in the western Netherlands
* Brill, Buckinghamshire, a village in England
* Brill, Cornwall, a small village to the west of Constantine, Cornwall, UK
* Brill, Wisconsin, an un ...
, 2005)
Beatrice Manz speaks French, German, Russian, Persian, Turkish, and Arabic.
See also
*
John E. Woods
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manz, Beatrice Forbes
Historians of Central Asia
21st-century American historians
Iranologists
Harvard University alumni
University of Michigan alumni
Tufts University faculty
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Middle Eastern studies scholars
Women medievalists