Golden Peter B. An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples

Wiesbaden: Printing and binding by Hubert & Co., Gôttingen, 1992. — 483 p.It is my pleasant obligation to acknowledge publicly a number of individuals who have helped to make this book possible. Professor Lars
J oh ans on first suggested the idea for this volume and bas shown great forbearance despite the many delays in its completion. The late Tibor HalasiKun who introduced me, more than a quarter of a century ago, to Turkic Studies and the rich Hungarian tradition of scholarship in that field, was a fount of knowledge and a source of inspiration. His imprint and spirit may be found on many of these pages. The staff of the Rutgers University libraries, in particular Natalie Borisovets and Wanda Gawienowski of the Dana Library at Newark, met my requests for ever more obscure titles with constant good humor and more importantly never failed in tracking down and securing a book or article. I am obliged to Marcus R. Knowlton and I. Kirâly who prepared the accompanying maps and to Tammy Proctor who took on the onerous task of producing the Index. I owe a particular debt of gratitude to my friends and colleagues Anatoly M. Khazanov and Thomas T. Allsen with whom., over the years, a number of the issues dealt with in this work were discussed. Tolya read sorne of the early chapters and Tom the fust draft of the who le of the work. Their cri ti cal comments were always welcome and almost alway5 followed. Needless to say, any errors of factor judgement are entirely mine. Svat Soucek very generously gave me access to his unpublished work on the Qrrgtz, for which I am most grateful. Publication of this book was facilitated by a subvention grant from the Research Council of Rutgers University. Finally, I owe my greatest debt of gratitude to my wife, Sylvia Wu Golden, and my sons, Alex and Greg, who put up with an often preoccupied husband and father. Moreover, Greg proofread severa! drafts of the work and frequently provided computer and editorial assistance. Sylvia, as usual, provided the Chinese characters.
Rutgers University
Newark, New Jersey
June, 1992