ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance of colleagues in the universities of Tehran and Shiraz in making available sources of material which proved to be very relevant to this book. Also to Ben Hayes, the commissioning editor, for his active participation in the planning of the book and especially for his work on the images. The assistance of our daughter Julie Parker-Mason has been invaluable at many stages in the writing of the book.

Geoffrey Parker wishes to thank the University of Birmingham and the British Council for their help in enabling him to pay a number of visits to Iran.