This volume is a translation of a classic 11th-century Persian text on behaviour and conduct in government. Nizam al-Mulk, who for 30 years was Chief Minister of two successive rulers of the Seljuk tribes, wrote this work between 1086 and 1091.

A translation of a classic 11th-century Persian text on behaviour and conduct in government, written between 1086 and 1091 by Nizam al-Mulk, who for over 30 years was Chief Minister of two successive rulers of the Seljuk, who had created an Empire which stretched from India to Egypt.

"It is difficult to decide which is the more impressive: the authority and control with which Mr. Bendix writes of the traditions, the institutions, and the technological and social developments of cultures as diverse as the British, French, German, Russian, and Japanese, or the skill with which he weaves his separate stories into a persuasive scenario of the modern revolution. A remarkable achievement."--Gordon A. Craig, Stanford University ""Kings or People" is equal to the grandeur of its subject: the political origins of the modern world. With Barrington Moore's "Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy" and Immanuels Wallerstein's "The Modern World System" which it matches in boldness, while differing radically in perspective, it is one of the truly powerful ventures in comparative historical sociology to have appeared in recent years."--Clifford Geertz "A brilliant achievement that will be equally fascinating for the general reader, the student, and the specialized scholar."--Henry W. Ehrmann