THE SWORD OF THE PROPHET

by Robert Goldston ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 29, 1980

Where Clifford's Land and People of the Arabian Peninsula (1977) will fill in the blanks for homework assignments and Archer's Legacy of the Desert (1976) gives a readable and clarifying background briefing for newspaper reading, Goldston's remarkably full and enlightening survey is far more intelligent and energetic than the Land and People volume, far broader in scope and stronger on premodern history than Archer's introduction. Goldston's language sometimes falls into dramatic clichÉs (with the Arab world ""in thrall"" to European imperialism and the British ""reel[ing] before German might""), but overall it succeeds admirably in vivifying the history of a culture which began dramatically. As Goldston puts it, ""In just one century [the seventh] the ragged desert followers of an impoverished Prophet who had died in an obscure Arabian village had carved out one of the world's great empires."" Like Archer, Goldston takes pains to give Western readers the Arab view on issues we've been taught to see otherwise; more thoroughly and satisfactorily than Archer, he accounts for later aberrations and seeming aberrations from the early policies of a tolerant, pluralistic Empire. If anything there is too much history here--too much for any but a history enthusiast to absorb on first acquaintance--but history it is, the sort that deals in understanding (not mere chronology), and the sort that equips readers to consider and evaluate the author's conclusions and interpretations.

Pub Date: Oct. 29, 1980

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dial

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1980

Categories: NONFICTION