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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.  nwhyte | Nov 29, 2009 |  This should be required reading for everyone. In a quick 161 pages Armstrong explains the origins of Islam, its impact on society and traces it from the Prophet Muhammad to the "September Apocalypse." Reading this will make people rethink their Islamic bigotry and begin to understand the complexities of Islam as a religion and the politics of the Middle East. (  ) AuntieClio | Aug 26, 2009 | An objective and sympathetic discourse on the origin and evolution of the Islamic faith, from the early 7th century till 9/11. It puts to rest doubts about the relevance of this religion in the modern world, explaining distortions and fallacies in interpretation. A good read to get a basic understanding of a much maligned faith. (  ) dragon178 | Jun 28, 2009 | Fascinating and illuminating. While I have no way to evaluate the accuracy of the information, it iwas compelling and insightful for this ignorant westerner. (  )1  moekane | Mar 20, 2009 | Islam--History. 1 |  icm | Oct 3, 2008 | 
 The Modern Library has attempted to stage a comeback by launching a large and ambitious series of handsomely produced volumes, most of which are indeed by leading authorities. Not so this slim work on Islamic history, a scandalously apologetic and misleading account written by a former nun with an ax to grind. The apologetics start with the Prophet Muhammad and conclude with the present day. Armstrong goes out of her way to soften every hard edge, explain away every unpleasantness, and hide what she cannot otherwise account for. . . . Inaccuracies also permeate this foully dishonest text. . . . Avoid it at all costs.
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(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:12 -0400)
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I was expecting a largely political history of the Islamic world, but in fact Armstrong gives a fascinating account of the development of Islamic religious thought in its political context. My own political contacts have tended to the more secularised and secularist end of the spectrum (my professional interests in the Balkans, Turkey/Cyprus, Polisario, Somaliland, my relatives from Bangladesh - only one of those areas being Arabic-speaking) and my contacts on the religious side have been rather eclectic (the Bektashi tekke in Tetovo and the followers of Said Nursî in Nicosia) so it was useful to be reminded that these are only a part of the story.
Armstrong makes the point that Islam was always engaged with government and with politics in a way that few other major faiths have been. This has made the encounter between Islam and the modern particularly painful; not helped by the fact that the advocates of secularism and modernity in the Muslim world have tended to be repressive and dictatorial in their actions, and the international community's havit of excoriating, ignoring or conniving in the corruption or cancellation of the results of democratic elections does not really help. (