David Blow published "Shah Abbas: The Ruthless King Who Became an Iranian Legend”

In 2009, David Blow published "Shah Abbas: The Ruthless King Who Became an Iranian Legend”.
This book has twenty chapters. From chapter one to chapter thirteen, the author is discussing Shah Abbas' political life in chronicle order. From chapter fourteen to chapter nineteen, the author discusses the King's private life, the dynamic of Shia-Islam adheres to Twelve Saints with Sufism, Christian, Judism, and Zoroastrian and his contributions to arts and culture. The last chapter of this book discusses Shah Abbas successor Safi, who was a weak leader. He failed to keep Iran united.

On June 02^nd, 1524, Shah Tahmasp I became monarch of Iran. He had a son with name Mohammad Khoda Bandeh, who made a family union with Khayr Al- Nisa Begum. The result of this union blossom Abbas, who was the third son of Mohammad Khoda Bandeh.

In 1576, Shah Tahmasp passed away, and his son Ismail II ascended to the throne. Khoda Bandeh could not become a king because he was blind from one eye. The customs of that time did not allow a blind man to become a ruler of Iran. In 1578, Shah Ismail II died, and Bandeh inherited the Safavid Kingdom with the approval of the Qizilbash army leaders.

On July 26^th, 1579, Khayr Al- Nisa Begum agitated Qizilbash commanders. In return, the commanders planned to end her life by accusing her of having extramarital affairs with Adil Giray, brother of the Crimean Tatar khan, who held captive in Qazvin. Consequently, she lost her life. Abbas began to dislike Qizilbash. On top of that, Qizilbash also killed Abbas's brother.

King Khoda Bandeh lacked the strong will and determination to lead Iran forward against its archnemesis that they were the Ottoman Empire and the Uzbek militia forces.

Murshid Qoli Khan was a Qizilbash, who became the guardian of Abbas at the age of 14. In October 1587, a large Uzbek army invaded Khurasan. Murshid decided to appoint Abbas as the head of the state of Iran. On October 16^th, 1587 King Khoda Bandeh did not object to his deposition and handed the royal insignia over to his son. On October 1^st, 1588, Abbas was 17 years old, who became a monarch of Iran.

Iran located at the epicenter of political realism because of the silk road in this particular era. Ottoman Empire was keen to capture Iran and engaged in massive military campaigns of conquering Iran. In 1578, the Ottoman Empire began to encroaching on Iranian land; Iran's army could not withstand Ottoman military forces.

In 1588, Shah Abbas asked for unconditional peace from the Ottoman Empire. In 1590, Shah Abbas signed the Treat of Istanbul to end the Ottoman and Safavid War. Consequently, Iran lost lands to the Ottoman Empire.

Shah Abbas began to reform Iran's army. Sir Anothony Shirley and his brother Robert Shirley asked Monarch of England on behalf of Shah Abbas to enter into an anti-Ottoman alliance.

Eventually, the Ottoman Empire military engaged in suppressing the Celali Rebellions. Shah Abbas used the moment and emancipated the lost lands.

In the 16^th Century, the Portuguese established a military base Gombroon; it was a port in the Persian Gulf.

In 1602, Imama Quli Khan Undiladze commanded Iran's naval army and pushed back the Portuguese's navy from Bahrain. In 1622, with the help of four English ships, Abbas regained sovereignty of Hormuz. And Gombroon's name changed to Bander Abbas.

On January 19, 1629, Shah Abbas closed his eyes at the age of fifty-seven and reigned for forty-two years. His body rests in peace outside of Kashan, the shrine of Habib ibn Musa.