Book excerpt: This volume contains six articles on Ibn ʿAsākir and his Taʾrīkh madīnat Dimashq illustrating a variety of perspectives and approaches to the material. It includes a seventh article that discusses the process by which the now standard Dār al-fikr edition was compiled. The contributions address both the geographical and biographical sections of the Taʾrīkh madīnat Dimashq. Some of the authors examine Ibn ʿAsākir’s sources, while others describe how Ibn ʿAsākir’s works were used by later generations of scholars and how he influenced multiple genres of later writings. The volume also contains analyses of individual biographies and discussions of Ibn ʿAsākir’s treatment of larger classes of people, including the first analysis of his biographies of women. In sum, it illustrates both the wide range of topics that the Taʾrīkh madīnat Dimashq covers and the latest techniques for analyzing Ibn ʿAsākir and his work. Contributors: Zayde Antrim, Steven Judd, Nancy Khalek, James Lindsay, Suleiman Mourad, Dana Sajdi, Jens Scheiner, Monika Winet.