Witnesses to a World Crisis: Historians and Histories of the Middle East in the Seventh Century (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780199208593)

James Howard-Johnston provides a sweeping and highly readable account of probably the most dramatic single episode in world history - the emergence of a new religion (Islam), the destruction of two established great powers (Roman and Iranian), and the creation of a new world empire by the Arabs, all in the space of not much more than a generation (610-52 AD). Warfare looms large, especially where operations can be followed in some detail, as in Iraq 636-40, in Egypt 641-2 and in the long-drawn out battle for the Mediterranean (649-98). As the first history of the formative phase of Islam to be grounded in the important non-Islamic as well as Islamic sources Witnesses to a World Crisis is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand Islam as a religion and political force, the modern Middle East, and the jihadist impulse, which is as evident today as it was in the seventh century.

Author: James Howard-Johnston
ISBN-10: 019920859X
ISBN-13: 9780199208593
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Language: English
Published: 07/29/2010
Pages: 576
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 2.25lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.20w x 1.60d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 12/01/2010