GU-Q HIST-1601: Middle East Civilization I

Lucid and inviting full-color maps chronicle the changing internal and external boundaries of the Islamic world, showing the principal trade routes through which goods, ideas, and customs spread.

Reflecting today's most recent findings, this enlightening book presents an even-handed survey of Middle Eastern history from the rise of Islam to the present day, beginning with a substantial account of the early centuries and then concentrating primarily on the modern, post-1914 decades.

In this ground-breaking new history, distinguished Middle East expert Robert G. Hoyland assimilates not only the rich biographical and geographical information of the early Muslim sources but also the many non-Arabic sources, contemporaneous or near-contemporaneous with the conquests.

Maurice Lombard portrays the Islamic world as the center of civilization at a time when the West was primitive and backward. Its reach extended from Cordoba to Samarkand, and it maintained and developed the tradition of wealth, cultural and artistic achievement, and thriving urban life which it had absorbed from its predecessors, the civilizations of Greece, Egypt, and Persia and the ancient cities of the Middle East.

Tabari's history of this period constitutes a prime source for political and military history. His vivid style, including many verbatim conversations and documents, brings the Caliphate of al-Ma'mum very much alive.

The Great Caliphs explores the immense achievements of the 'Abbasid age through the lens of Mediterranean history between 750 and 1258 CE.