'A Seditious and Sinister Tribe' - by Donald Rayfield (Hardcover)

About the Book

"The Crimean Tatars were the Turkic-speaking native peoples of Crimea who established a powerful khanate in the 1440s, which remained in power until 1783. In this, the first history in English of this khanate for over one hundred years, eminent scholar Donald Rayfield shows that this misunderstood and much-feared nation was in fact a flourishing state with a vibrant literary culture, religious tolerance, a sophisticated constitution, and a prosperous economy. Rayfield's book describes the establishment of the khanate, its reign, and its eventual fall, concluding with a vivid portrayal of the ruthless suppression of the Tatars--first by Russia and then the Soviet Union--and the final, effectively genocidal, invasion under Vladimir Putin. This vibrant and ultimately tragic chronicle is essential reading for anyone interested in the background to the current war in Ukraine."--

Book Synopsis

With implications for the war in Ukraine, a surprising history of the Crimean Tatars from the fifteenth century to the present day.

The Crimean Tatars were the Turkic-speaking native peoples of Crimea who established a powerful khanate in the 1440s, which remained in power until 1783. In this, the first history in English of this khanate for over one hundred years, eminent scholar Donald Rayfield shows that this misunderstood and much-feared nation was, in fact, a flourishing state with a vibrant literary culture, religious tolerance, a sophisticated constitution, and a prosperous economy. Rayfield's book describes the establishment of the khanate, its reign, and its eventual fall, concluding with a vivid portrayal of the ruthless suppression of the Tatars--first by Russia and then the Soviet Union--and the final, effectively genocidal, invasion under Vladimir Putin.

This vibrant and ultimately tragic chronicle is essential reading for anyone interested in the background of the current war in Ukraine.

Review Quotes

Shortlisted-- "Pushkin House Book Prize 2025"

"[A] splendid history. . . . The author paints a rich tableau of stirring events and colourful personalities across the many centuries he covers."-- "Times Literary Supplement"

"Jutting into the Black Sea as a Eurasian crossroads, the Crimean Peninsula has been desired by Mongolian, Turkish, Russian, French, and German conquerors. In 2014, the Russian Federation seized Crimea in its war against Ukraine. But, what about the Crimean Tatars, the people who claim the peninsula as their homeland? Rayfield presents the most detailed and thoroughly researched survey history of these people to appear in English since Alan W. Fisher's The Crimean Tatars. . . . Based on hundreds of mostly published sources in numerous languages, Rayfield reveals a Crimean khanate that thrived for 350 years with strong military, political, judicial, and economic structures. He meticulously explores the inner workings of these structures and how the khanate interacted with neighboring peoples and states. When the Russian Empire grew strong enough to seize Crimea in 1783, it launched a program of ethnic cleansing that continued under the USSR and now again under Vladimir Putin. Rayfield traces this tragic history as well, describing it as 'a slow genocide.' Highly recommended."-- "Choice"

"Rayfield, one of Britain's most eminent historians of Russia, turns his attention here to the Crimean Tatars, whose khanate survived for some 350 years before its conquest by the tsarist empire. It is a work of vast scholarship. Everyone interested in Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea and war against Ukraine should read it."-- "Financial Times (Best Books of 2024: History)"

"'A Seditious and Sinister Tribe' is long overdue and it delivers an authoritative blow-by-blow chronicle of the Tatar Crimean monarchy and the fate of Tatar people since its annexation by Russia in 1783, and particularly their tragic destiny since 1917."-- "Financial Times"

"Underpinned by a dizzying array of factual knowledge, 'A Seditious and Sinister Tribe' offers an in-depth exploration of a major Turkic people that has been historically misrepresented and misunderstood."-- "Book Blast"

"A remarkable and revelatory work of phenomenal historical scholarship, written with great verve and aplomb. A classic of its kind."--William Boyd

"Rayfield has written a magisterial history of the Crimean Tatars, who in centuries past had a deep and unduly overlooked impact on war and peace in Poland, Austria, and Russia. Rayfield's book takes us right through to the Putin era, giving a vivid picture of a people who once terrified their neighbors and are now again threatened with extinction in their homeland."--Robert Service, emeritus professor of Russian history, St Antony's College, University of Oxford

"While many observers see the war in Ukraine as being between Russians and Ukrainians, there is a third nation involved in this conflict: the Muslim Crimean Tatars. Rayfield tells their story in an epic account of Europe's last Mongol khanate and its long wars with Russia that ultimately led to tsarist conquest and a Soviet-era genocide. The story of this small ethnic group's struggle to survive continues up to this very day as the Crimean Tatars seek to rebuild their shattered nation in a beloved Crimean homeland that has once again been invaded by their historic Russian foes."--Brian Glyn Williams, author of "The Crimean Tatars: From Soviet Genocide to Putin's Conquest" and "Inferno in Chechnya"

About the Author

Donald Rayfield is emeritus professor of Russian and Georgian at Queen Mary University of London. His books include Anton Chekhov: A Life and, from Reaktion Books, Edge of Empires: A History of Georgia, which was translated into Russian and Georgian.