A major Shi'i Muslim community with a long and eventful history, the Ismailis were until recently studied primarily on the basis of the accounts of their enemies, including the Sunni polemicists; and the Crusader chroniclers. As a result, a host of legends were disseminated on the teachings and practices of the Ismailis. The study of Ismailism began to be revolutionised from the 1930s, with the recovery of a large number of Ismaili texts preserved in private collections.

A Short History of the Ismailis brings together the results of modern scholarship on the highlights of Ismaili history and doctrines within the broader contexts of Islamic history and Shi'i thought.