Thomas Allsen, a highly respected scholar of the history and culture of Medieval Eurasia and of the Mongol Empire in particular, passed away on February 18, 2019. He was Professor Emeritus of The College of New Jersey.
Born on February 16, 1940, Allsen was renowned as a historian of Islamic textiles. He was proficient in Chinese, Persian, Arabic, Russian and Western European languages, and he used his excellent linguistic skills to undertake deeply probing and highly illuminating investigations on the exchange of material culture and commercial transactions across Eurasia. His writings are distinguished for their engaging, lucid style of exposition.
In 2006, Penn Press brought out Allsen's widely acclaimed The Royal Hunt in Eurasian History, and his The Steppe and the Sea: Pearls in the Mongol Empire is scheduled to appear in April of this year.
For the past decade, Allsen had been working on a monumental book on the history of alcohol in Eurasia.
