Islam: A Short History
by Karen Armstrong
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
"Religion, like any other human activity, is often abused, but at its best it helps human beings to cultivate a sense of the sacred inviolability of each individual, and thus to mitigate the murderous violence to which our species is tragically prone. Religion has committed atrocities in the past, but in its brief history secularism has proved that it can be just as violent. As we have seen, secular agression and persecution have often led to a heightening of religious intolerence and hatred." (p. 180)
The history of Islam, which is very tightly linked with the political history of numerous tribes and countries, is very complicated. Armstrong does an excellent job of sorting everything out into a clear narrative. The book also includes an extensive bibliography, a list of key people in Islamic history, and both definitions and pronunciation guides for Arabic words.
