The Lost Archive of the Fatimid Caliphate is a groundbreaking book that uncovers an extraordinary find in an unexpected place - the storage room of a synagogue in Cairo, where medieval Jews recycled scrap paper and deposited the lost archive of the Fatimid caliphate (909-1171).

This compelling book reveals a millennial tradition of state record keeping by the Fatimids, surpassing that of medieval Europe.

The author invites readers to reconsider their understanding of the medieval Islamicate world and premodern polities.

With stunning examples from the Cairo Geniza, this book provides a rare window into a robust culture of documentation and archiving.

The author argues that the problem of archives in the medieval Middle East lies not with the region's administrative culture but with our failure to understand preindustrial documentary ecology.

This book is a must-read for anyone interested in history, archaeology, and the study of documents as physical artifacts.