Translation of the portion of Imam Ibn Kathir's al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah which deals with the Lives of the rightly guided Caliphs: al-Khulafa' al-Rashidun.  

The books picks up from the Prophet's (pbuh) death and begins with the Khalifah of Abu Bakr (rad).  It traces through his years of office and how he strictly fought the initial apostasy and refusal to pay the zakah and steadied the ship of Islam. then Umar (rad) continues where Abu Bakr (rad) left.  Uthman (rad) followed and his era was beset with turmoil and infighting till he was martyred.   Ali ibn Abu Talib (rad) and he faced some these challenges and was also martyred.    His son Hasan (rad) became the last of the righteous calips only to surrender for the sake of peace and good of the ummah.  With this the Prophet (saw) words were proved true when he said "the Khalifah after me shall last for thirty years.  That will be followed by kingdom."

Regarded as one of the most authentic works on the subject.

A complete and unabridged translation by Rafiq Abd al-Rahman.