Islam (A Short History) (edition 2001)

Armstrong offers a succinct overview of the history of the Islamic community. Informative, sympathetic but critical, this book should be recommended reading for those officials, in and out of uniform, dealing with the Islamic world. ( )

I thought this would be much, much better than it actually was. Honestly, I was quite underwhelmed. Armstrong doesn't explain history well at all, and she often states her arguments/opinions as fact without offering support. Are her other books better? I thought she was supposed to be a very well-respected author. I guess I'll look elsewhere for a more insightful, interesting history of Islam. ( )

A clear, neatly constructed overview of a complicated chunk of history. I particularly liked her delicate handling of modern developments, such as the rise of fundamentalism in both the east and the west, and the support of the western powers for brutally undemocratic regimes in the middle east. I was sorry the book wasn't a lot longer, as I would have enjoyed a more in-depth look at some of the historical figures she describes.

On a totally shallow note, I've never seen so many semi-colons in one book in my life. It became pretty distracting. ( )

I read this book because The Satanic Verses is on my bookshelf and I heard that one should have a cursory understanding of Islam prior to reading that. I don’t know that this book did the trick. The book starts in the year 610 with the revelations of Muhammad and touches on nearly every relevant piece of Islamic history up to the current century. All in 161 pages. There were some good parts, specifically the story of The Prophet and then the section on modern Islam, but there was way too much crammed into this slight book. A plethora of names, dates and places was not only a challenge to keep straight, but also detracted from the history.

On the plus side, she does present a very middle of the road look at Islam and works to correct the stereotypes of violence and oppression. I was impressed with the origins of Islam and the beliefs that Muhammad was sharing concerning peace, social justice, and acceptance of other religions. Then, as with any religion, people got involved with their own agendas and interpretations of the Quran and mucked up some major stuff. Armstrong’s take on the fundamentalist Muslims was also insightful; her argument is that all religions have a fundamentalist offshoot that crops up as a direct response to the problems presented by modernity. Armstrong states that, “Fundamentalists nearly always feel assaulted by the liberal or modernizing establishment, and their views and behavior become more extreme as a result.” The book ends on a hopeful note even after a short postscript concerning the 9/11 attacks. ( )

A good short history of Islam.

(8/10) ( )