Islam and the Arab World: Faith, People, Culture

Front Cover
Bernard Lewis
Knopf, 1976 - History - 360 pages
In this book thirteen eminent authorities provide a long-overdue and highly rewarding survey of Islamic culture and history, from the days of the Prophet Muhammad to modern times. The names of the contributors and their academic affiliations appear on the back of this book jacket. Their specific subjects cover: the faith of Islam and the people who embraced it; Islamic art and architecture; the growth and culture of urban Islam; the mystic path of the Sufi tradition; Islamic literature; Islamic music--its philosophy theory, and practice; Islamic contributions to the development of science; strategy, tactics, and weapons in Islamic warfare; the golden age of Cordoba and Granada; the flowering of Iranian civilization; the rise and fall of Turkish domination; Muslim India; problems and prospects of the 19th and 20th centuries. The comprehensive text is supplemented with close to 500 illustrations, 160 of them in color.

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Contents

FOREWORD AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
9
Chapter
25
Chapter
57
Copyright

14 other sections not shown

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About the author (1976)

Bernard Lewis was born in London, England on May 31, 1916. He graduated with honors in history from the School of Oriental Studies at the University of London in 1936 with special reference to the Middle East. In 1938, he was named an assistant lecturer at the University of London, where he received a Ph.D. the next year. In 1940, he was drafted into the British armed forces and assigned to the Army tank corps. He was soon transferred to intelligence. He taught at the University of London for 25 years. In 1974, he accepted joint appointments at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey and Princeton University. He also taught at Cornell from 1984 to 1990. He became an American citizen in 1982. He was a scholar of Middle Eastern history and a prolific writer. His books included The Emergence of Modern Turkey, What Went Wrong?: The Clash between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East, and From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting the Middle East. Because he was considered an expert on interactions between the Christian and Islamic worlds, his view helped shape American foreign policy under President George W. Bush. He died on May 19, 2018 at the age of 101.

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