Book excerpt: First published in 1967, Muslim Cities in the Later Middle Ages is one of the most influential works in the field of Islamic history. Primarily a study of the main cities of the Mamluk state of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries AD, Professor Lapidus' book serves to provide a framework for understanding the long evolution of Muslim political and social institutions and urban societies. The relationships between military rulers, the bourgeoisie and the common people are presented in a study of wide relevance to social history.