A History of Islamic Societies (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780521514309)

This new edition of one of the most widely used course books on Islamic civilizations around the world has been substantially revised to incorporate the new scholarship and insights of the last twenty-five years. Ira Lapidus' history explores the beginnings and transformations of Islamic civilizations in the Middle East and details Islam's worldwide diffusion. The history is divided into four parts. Part I is a comprehensive account of pre-Islamic late antiquity; the beginnings of Islam; the early Islamic empires; and Islamic religious, artistic, legal and intellectual cultures. Part II deals with the construction in the Middle East of Islamic religious communities and states to the fifteenth century. Part III includes the history to the nineteenth century of Islamic North Africa and Spain; the Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal empires; and other Islamic societies in Asia and Africa. Part IV accounts for the impact of European commercial and imperial domination on Islamic societies and traces the development of the modern national state system and the simultaneous Islamic revival from the early nineteenth century to the present.

Author: Ira M. Lapidus
ISBN-10: 0521514304
ISBN-13: 9780521514309
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 10/13/2014
Pages: 1020
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 3.80lbs
Size: 10.10h x 7.00w x 1.70d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 04/01/2015 pg. 1376