Synopses & Reviews
First published in 1970, The Cambridge History of Islam is the most comprehensive and ambitious collaborative survey of Islamic history and civilization yet to appear in English. On publication it was welcomed as a work useful for both reference and reading, for the general reader, student and specialist alike. It has now been reprinted, with corrections, and for ease of handling the original two hardcover volumes have each been divided into two separate paperbacks.
Review
' ... undoubtedly a very valuable and very much needed contribution to the field of Islamic studies. It is a thoroughly scholarly and often erudite presentation of the entire Muslim world that will be consulted by the specialist and non-specialist for many years to come.' The Middle East Journal
Review
'On the basis of length and scope, the History is the most comprehensive, and at the same time the most detailed study of Islam so far attempted, and ... it is likely to remain so for at least another generation.' Journal of the American Oriental Society
Table of Contents
List of maps; Preface; Introduction; Part I. The Rise and Domination of the Arabs: 1. Pre-Islamic Arabia Irfan Shahid; 2. Muhammad W. Montgomery Watt; 3. The Patriarchal and Umayyad caliphates Laura Veccia Vaglieri; 4. The 'Abbasid caliphate D. Sourdel; Part II. The Coming of the Steppe Peoples: 5. The disintegration of the caliphate in the east B. Spuler; 6. Egypt and Syria Bernard Lewis; 7. Anatolia in the period of the Seljuks and the Beyliks Osman Turman; 8. The emergence of the Ottomans Halil Inalcik; Part III. The Central Islamic Lands in the Ottoman period: 9. The rise of the Ottoman Empire Halil Inalcik; 10. The heyday and decline of the Ottoman Empire Halil Inalcik; 11. The later Ottoman Empire in Rumelia and Anatolia Uriel Heyd; 12. The later Ottoman Empire in Egypt and the Fertile Crescent P. M. Holt; 13. Safavid Persia R. M. Savory; 14. Persia: the breakdown of society Ann K. S. Lambton; 15. Central Asia from the sixteenth century to the Russian conquests B. Spuler; Appendix M. E. Yapp; 16. Tsarist Russia and the Muslims of Central Asia Akdes Nimet Kurat.