Witnesses to a World Crisis: Historians and Histories of the Middle East in the Seventh Century

By James Howard-Johnston

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 019920859X
• ISBN13: 9780199208593
• Release Date: July 2010
• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Length: 576 Pages
• Weight: 2.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 6.2" x 9.2"