First Published in 1968. This works seeks to be neither controversial nor polemical, the author intends to present an entirely objective account of the beliefs and institutions of Islam. Lammens describes Hejaz as the cradle of Islam, where Western Arabia in its mountainous complexity holds as the primary focus in this title. Discussing Islam as having been formed by the evolution of thirteen centuries, the details supplied within enable the reader to extensively follow its historical deve...

A SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER'A stunning blockbuster' Robert Fisk'A brilliant tour de force of revisionist scholarship and thrilling storytelling' Simon Sebag Montefiore'A compelling detective story of the highest order' Sunday Times'Tom Holland has an enviable gift for summoning up the colour, the individuals and animation of the past' Independen...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In this “brilliantly lucid, splendidly readable book” (The Sunday Times), one of Britain’s foremost commentators on religion explores how people have perceived and experienced God throughout history, from the time of Abraham to the present.“An admirable and impressive work of synthesis that will give insight and satisfaction to thousands of lay readers.”—The Washington Post Book WorldWh...

"The courageous Robert Spencer busts myths and tells truths about jihadists that no one else will tell." ***—***MICHELLE MALKINWhile many choose to simply blame the West for provoking terrorists, Robert Spencer’s new book **The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades)™ reveals why it is time to ignore political correctness and identify the enemy - if we hope to ever defeat them.In a...

The New York Times bestselling history of early Christianity in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East—from "one of America's best scholars of religion" ( The Economist).In this groundbreaking book, renowned scholar Philip Jenkins explores a vast and forgotten network of the world's largest and most influential Christian churches that existed to the east of the Roman Empire. These churches and their leaders ruled the Middle East for centuries and became...

Spanning two and a half millennia, Anthony Pagden’s mesmerizing Worlds at War delves deep into the roots of the “clash of civilizations” between East and West that has always been a battle over ideas, and whose issues have never been more urgent.Worlds At War begins in the ancient world, where Greece saw its fight against the Persian Empire as one between freedom and slavery, between monarchy and democracy, between individuality and the worship of men as gods. Her...

Allah, Jesus, and Yahweh: The Gods That Failed deals with the moral and intellectual damage caused by religion the subject of many of today's headlines. There have been at least five major religious invasions from Asia into Europe. In particular, the Middle East seems a virtual hatchery for faith and fanaticism. It's the birthplace of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam not to mention the earlier Zoroastrianism and the much later Bahaism plus a plethora of minor cults and lunacies. T...

The forgotten story of Central Asia's enlightenment—its rise, fall, and enduring legacyIn this sweeping and richly illustrated history, S. Frederick Starr tells the fascinating but largely unknown story of Central Asia's medieval enlightenment through the eventful lives and astonishing accomplishments of its greatest minds—remarkable figures who built a bridge to the modern world. Because nearly all of these figures wrote in Arabic, they were long assumed to have b...

Acknowledged as one of the greatest achievements of modern scholarship, Arnold Toynbee's A Study of History is a ten-volume analysis of the rise and fall of human civilizations. Contained in two volumes, D.C. Somervell's abridgement of this magnificent enterprise preserves the method, atmosphere, texture, and, in many instances, the very words of the original. First published in 1947 and 1957, these two volumes are themselves a great historical achievement. Volume 2, which abridge...

For many centuries, the world of Islam was in the forefront of human achievement--the foremost military and economic power in the world, the leader in the arts and sciences of civilization. Christian Europe, a remote land beyond its northwestern frontier, was seen as an outer darkness of barbarism and unbelief from which there was nothing to learn or to fear. And then everything changed, as the previously despised West won victory after victory, first in the battlefield and the marketplace...

"Full of rare and exact information…A distinguished work." —New York Review of BooksThe eleventh-century Muslim world was a great civilization while Europe lay slumbering in the Dark Ages. Slowly, inevitably, Europe and Islam came together, through trade and war, crusade and diplomacy. The ebb and flow between these two worlds for seven hundred years, illuminated here by a brilliant historian, is one of the great sagas of world history.

Praise for Bernard Lewis"For newcomers to the subject[el]Bernard Lewis is the man."TIME Magazine“The doyen of Middle Eastern studies."The New York Times“No one writes about Muslim history with greater authority, or intelligence, or literary charm.”British historian Hugh Trevor-Roper“Bernard Lewis has no living rival in his field.”...