Richard Nelson Frye

Richard Nelson Frye is a well known scholar in central Asian studies who has written many books on Iran. Graduating from Harvard in 1946, he taught at Habibiya College in Kabul (1942-44), Harvard University (1948-90), Frankfurt University (1959-60), Hamburg University (1968-69), Pahlavi University of Shiraz (1970-76), and University of Tajikistan (1990-92). Prof. Frye founded the Center for Middle Eastern Studies as Harvard. He served as Director of the Asia Institute in Shiraz (1970-1975), was on the Board of Trustees of the Pahlavi University at Shiraz (1974-78), and Chairman, Committee on Inner Asian Studies, at Harvard (1983-89), and as Editor of the Bulletin of the Asia Institute (1970-1975 and 1987-99. Professor Frye has published numerous works, including: Notes on the Early Coinage of Transoxiana (1949); The United States and Turkey and Iran, (with Lewis V. Thomas, 1951); The Near East and the Great Powers (ed., 1951); History of the Nation of Archers (1954); The Heritage of Persia (1962); Bukhara (1965); The Golden Age of Persia (1975); The History of Ancient Iran (1983); and The Heritage of Central Asia (1996). He was also the editor of Vol. IV of The Cambridge History of Iran (1975).

Dr. Frye's speech at UCLA in March 2005

Amazon listing of his books

Read some of his works on the history of Iran