This review examines Nilab Saeedi’s Three Empires and Persian Historiography: The Thought of Muṣliḥ al-Dīn Lārī, a study that explores the historical writing of the sixteenth-century scholar Muṣliḥ al-Dīn Lārī within the interconnected political worlds of the Timurid, Safavid, and Ottoman empires. Saeedi argues that Lārī’s historiography cannot be understood solely within the confines of a single imperial tradition; rather, it reflects a broader intellectual environment in which historical knowledge circulated across imperial boundaries. By analyzing Lārī’s narrative strategies and his treatment of political authority, Saeedi situates his works within a wider Persianate historiographical tradition and highlights the role of historians as mediators of political and intellectual exchange in the early modern Islamic world. This review assesses both the contributions and limitations of Saeedi’s study. The book significantly enhances the accessibility of Lārī’s writings and draws attention to the importance of Persian historiography for Ottoman historical studies. Overall, Saeedi’s study opens valuable avenues for reconsidering the circulation of historical knowledge across early modern imperial contexts.
