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This collection of essays, written by the foremost Western expert in Islamic studies, gives essential background on present Middle Eastern conflicts with the West, and how this religion
--from its first expansion to the exploits of Saddam Hussein
--has been fatefully involved with the Western world.
List of contents
In Search of Islam's Past; The Study of Islam; The Decolonisation of History; On Writing the Modern History of the Middle East; On Nationalism and Revolution; The Use by Muslim Historians of Non-Muslim Sources; Palestine - On the History and Geography of a Name; The Pro-Islamic Jews; An Ode Against the Jews; The Mongols, The Turks, and the Muslim Polity; The Ottoman Empire and its Aftermath; Corsairs in Iceland; Islam and the Outside World; Islam and Europe; Crows of the Arabs (a group of Black Arabic poets); Heresy in Islam; Islamic concepts of Revolution; Islam and Development; The Idea of Freedom in Modern Islamic Political Thought; Russia and the Middle East; the Achievement of Sadat; The Significance of Khomeini; The Revolt of Islamic Fundamentalism; Behind the Rushdie Affair; The Middle East Crisis in Historical Perspective.
