New book
Michael Cook - A History of the Muslim World: From its Origins to the Dawn of Modernity
https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691236575/a-history-of-the-muslim-worldThis book describes and explains the major events, personalities, conflicts, and convergences that have shaped the history of the Muslim world. The body of the book takes readers from the origins of Islam to the eve of the nineteenth century, and an epilogue continues the story to the present day. Michael Cook thus provides a broad history of a civilization remarkable for both its unity and diversity.
After setting the scene in the Middle East of late antiquity, the book depicts the rise of Islam as one of the great black swan events of history. It continues with the spectacular rise of the Caliphate, an empire that by the time it broke up had nurtured the formation of a new civilization. It then goes on to cover the diverse histories of all the major regions of the Muslim world, providing a wide-ranging account of the key military, political, and cultural developments that accompanied the eastward and westward spread of Islam from the Middle East to the shores of the Atlantic and the Pacific.
At the same time, A History of the Muslim World contains numerous primary-source quotations that expose the reader to a variety of acutely insightful voices from the Muslim past.
Preview:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/History-Muslim-World-Origins-Modernity-ebook/dp/B0CVTFZN3B?asin=B0CVTFZN3B&revisionId=f35e2dde&format=1&depth=1Review:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/3036728/a-universal-history-of-the-muslim-world/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgQWpdaChEE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ3Nt_HtIms In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a conversation with Michael Cook about the history of the Muslim world. They discuss Islamic civilization from origins to modernity, early antecedents before Islam, genesis of Islam, and the Prophet Muhammad and his creation of a monotheistic religion and state. They discuss succession after the death of Muhammad and the caliphate, the Umayyid dynasty, the Abbasid dynasty, and how important Islam and the Arabic language were for an Islamic civilization. They talk about the origin of the Turks, Bilga Qaghan, Turks being pagan and interacting with Islam, and the three ways the Turks spread out of the Steppe. They discuss the Mongols and their relationship with Islam, the Seljuk dynasty, the Safawid dynasty and the impact of Shiism. They also talk about the Ottoman Empire and their administration and integration of other cultures. They discuss the spread of Islam into India by conquest and merchants, Islam in Southeast Asia and around the Indian Ocean, Sahara and central Africa, and conflict between Christians and Muslims in Ethiopia. They also discuss Arab identity, Islam’s spread through conquest, Islam juxtaposed with other religions and cultures, Islam in the modern period, future of Islam, and many other topics.
Topic: Random Islamic History Posts