The evolution of Oriental Studies in Britain over the last century is traced in thirteen essays on key figures (twelve of them Fellows of the British Academy). They exemplify the outstanding contribution of British scholars to Oriental scholarship, within the general trend in the West to understand and interpret the civilisations of the East sympathetically. Through the careers and achievements of these influential scholars these essays shed light on studies ranging from Ancient Egyptian and Hebrew, through Arabic, Persian and Turkish, to Indology, Chinese and Japanese. With important changes of methodology and approach to the cultures and religions of Asia, the twentieth century has been an exciting and fruitful period for Oriental Studies in Britain.
Readership: Scholars and Students of Oriental studies
Edited by C. Edmund Bosworth, Fellow of the British Academy; Emeritus Professor of Arabic Studies, University of Manchester
"These biographies ... speak of the extraordinary drive of humans to advance knowledge for its own sake, of their passionate engagement with the societies they studied ... and of their opposition to government policies in relation to these societies." - Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
"A Century of British Orientalists provides plentiful material for reflection." - The Journal of Asian Studies
Editor's Introduction R. E. Emmerick: Harold Walter Bailey Edward Ullendorff: Alfred Felix Landon Beeston C. Edmund Bosworth: Edward Granville Browne C. Edmund Bosworth: Gerard Leslie Makins Clauson J. A. Emerton: Godfrey Rolles Driver J. A. Emerton: Samuel Rolles Driver J. Cerny: Alan Henderson Gardiner Albert Hourani: Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb J. D. Ray: Francis Llewellyn Griffith C. Edmund Bosworth: Vladimir Fed'orovich Minorsky R. H. Robins: Ralph Lilley Turner Jonathan D. Spence: Arthur David Waley John Bastin: Richard Olaf Winstedt
