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On Sale: Dec 10, 2007
Page Count: 448 pages
Publisher: Da Capo Press
ISBN-13: 9780306817281

Today’s Arab world was created at breathtaking speed. In just over one hundred years following the death of Mohammed in 632, Arabs had subjugated a territory with an east-west expanse greater than the Roman Empire, and they did it in about one-half the time. By the mid-eighth century, Arab armies had conquered the thousand-year-old Persian Empire, reduced the Byzantine Empire to little more than a city-state based around Constantinople, and destroyed the Visigoth kingdom of Spain. The cultural and linguistic effects of this early Islamic expansion reverberate today. This is the first popular English-language account in many years of this astonishing remaking of the political and religious map of the world. Hugh Kennedy’s sweeping narrative reveals how the Arab armies conquered almost everything in their path, and brings to light the unique characteristics of Islamic rule. One of the few academic historians with a genuine talent for story telling, Kennedy offers a compelling mix of larger-than-life characters, fierce battles, and the great clash of civilizations and religions.

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Saudi Aramco World
“A lively tour d’horizon of the Muslim world circa 750…Each section’s tight geographical focus and ample bibliography make this a helpful guide.”

Claremont Review of Books, Fall 2008
“Comprehensive and scholarly…[Kennedy] is a real historian, doing what a historian ought to do…Kennedy has a good eye for a colorful story.”Military History Quarterly, Fall 2008
“Kennedy’s account is a thoughtful reminder of how even the most epochal world-changing events can turn on the unanticipated intersection of a handful of diverse contingencies.”

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Hugh Kennedy

About the Author

Hugh Kennedy is a professor of Arabic at SOAS, University of London. The author of many books, including The Courts of the Caliphs and The Great Arab Conquests, Kennedy lives in London and Scotland, Great Britain.

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Hugh Kennedy

About the Author