Europe and the Islamic World: A History

by John Tolan, Henry Laurens, Gilles Veinstein

A sweeping history of Islam and the West from the seventh century to today

Europe and the Islamic World sheds much-needed light on the shared roots of Islamic and Western cultures and on the richness of their inextricably intertwined histories, refuting once and for all the misguided notion of a "clash of civilizations" between the Muslim world and Europe. In this landmark book, three eminent historians bring to life the complex and tumultuous relations between Genoans and Tunisians, Alexandrians and the people of Constantinople, Catalans and Maghrebis―the myriad groups and individuals whose stories reflect the common cultural, intellectual, and religious heritage of Europe and Islam.

Since the seventh century, when the armies of Constantinople and Medina fought for control of Syria and Palestine, there has been ongoing contact between the Muslim world and the West. This sweeping history vividly recounts the wars and the crusades, the alliances and diplomacy, commerce and the slave trade, technology transfers, and the intellectual and artistic exchanges. Here readers are given an unparalleled introduction to key periods and events, including the Muslim conquests, the collapse of the Byzantine Empire, the commercial revolution of the medieval Mediterranean, the intellectual and cultural achievements of Muslim Spain, the crusades and Spanish reconquest, the rise of the Ottomans and their conquest of a third of Europe, European colonization and decolonization, and the challenges and promise of this entwined legacy today.

As provocative as it is groundbreaking, this book describes this shared history in all its richness and diversity, revealing how ongoing encounters between Europe and Islam have profoundly shaped both.

Genres: History, Islam, European History, Religion, Nonfiction

488 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

John V. Tolan works on the history of religious and cultural relations between the Arab and Latin worlds in the Middle Ages. He received a BA in Classics from Yale, an MA and a PhD in History from the University of Chicago, and an Habilitation à diriger des recherches from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris. He has taught and lectured in universities in North America, Europe Africa and the Middle East and is currently Professor of History at the University of Nantes. He currently is director of a major project funded by the European Research Council, “RELMIN: The legal status of religious minorities in the Euro-Mediterranean world (5th-15th centuries)” (www.relmin.eu).

Reviews

[Kimba Tichenor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave this book a four-star rating because the quality of scholarship is exceptional. However for readability, I give it a two. The goal of the book is to show that the relationship between Europe and Islam is much more complicated than that of a clash between civilizations as so often portrayed by politicians and in the media. Given this goal, one would presume the targeted audience is non-experts. Yet the density of the narrative is not suitable for those who have not already studied the topic at great length. Thus there is a bit of a disconnect between the book's goal and it's accessibility for the intended audience.

[Lauren Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is divided by period into three sections, each written by a different author. In truth, I found myself lost in the second two sections--I wouldn't recommend the book for anyone who wasn't already firmly grounded in the history. I felt myself swamped with detail. The first section was valuable--demonstrating that early relations between European states and groups and Islamic ones were governed more by opportunism and pragmatism than by religious differences or similarities.

[Matt Thackeray · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book's central thesis, as given by the author, is that we shouldn't view European & Islamic worlds as two separate spheres of influence but rather as one, larger "Abrahimic" faith grouping with a dialectic approach to development. It largely achieves its aim although, as is the problem with all overviews like this, a lot is left to wayside. The tight focus on Europe, the Middle East and North Africa is a necessary evil to achieve its aim but the argument feels weaker for not highlighting the differences between the developments over its three periods in comparison to the Asian or Central African empires.

It's divided into 3 sections, the Mohammedian age, Modernity & the Contemporary periods. Of these, the first two are well developed and fleshed out, if anything the references potentially coming too thick and fast for this book to be an introduction to this fascinating interchange. However, the final section to me seemed noticably light, especially given that the effects of empire and decolonialisation and how it still affects the world today. Algeria's fierce struggle for liberation is reduced to a a few paragraphs for example.

[Kathleen McRae · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very difficult read

[University of Chicago Magazine]

John Tolan, AM'86, PhD'90
Author

From our pages (Jan–Feb/13): "Politicians and reporters characterize the relationship between Islam and the West as a clash of civilizations, but historian Tolan and his coauthors argue that this narrative is too simplistic. Covering 15 centuries of shared roots—and coexistence, competition, and cooperation—the authors offer a richer and more complex exploration of the historical, political, and economic causes of today’s conflicts."

[Mills College Library]

303.4824 T647 2013