Thomas J. Barfield

Authors

Thomas J. Barfield is a historian of Central Eurasia and a professor of anthropology at Boston University.

• Observatory Articles
• Full Bio
• Books & Research

Latest by this author

More about this author

Thomas J. Barfield is professor of anthropology at Boston University. His new book, Shadow Empires, explores how distinctly different types of empires arose and sustained themselves as the dominant polities of Eurasia and North Africa for 2,500 years before disappearing in the 20th century. He is a renowned historian of Central Eurasia and the author of The Central Asian Arabs of Afghanistan, The Perilous Frontier: Nomadic Empires and China, 221 BC to AD 1757, Afghanistan: An Atlas of Indigenous Domestic Architecture, and Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History (revised and expanded second edition 2022, Princeton University Press).

Publications by this author

The Central Asian Arabs of Afghanistan: Pastoral Nomadism in Transition

University of Texas Press | 1982

Afghanistan: An Atlas of Indigenous Domestic Architecture

University of Texas Press | 1991

The Perilous Frontier: Nomadic Empires and China 221 B.C. to AD 1757

Wiley-Blackwell | 1992

Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History, Second Edition

Princeton University Press | December | 2022

Shadow Empires: An Alternative Imperial History

Princeton University Press | October | 2023

• Expertise

Human Bridges