Human history has always been shaped by the growth and migration of populations, by the opportunities and constraints provided by the environment, and by the rise of new technologies. Today, these forces are enmeshed in a state of unprecedented turbulence. World population has more than doubled in the past forty years to reach its current level of 5.5 billion, and it will exceed 8 billion and p…
Strauss and Howe base this vision on a provocative theory of American history. The authors look back five hundred years and uncover a distinct pattern: Modern history moves in cycles, each one lasting about the length of a long human life, each composed of four twenty-year eras—or “turnings”—that comprise history’s seasonal rhythm of growth, maturation, entropy, and rebirth. Illustrat…
Islamic renewal and reformism is an ongoing process which is commonly thought to have started only in the twentieth century. Professor Azra's meticulous study, using sources from the Middle East itself, shows how scholars in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were reconstructing the intellectual and socio-moral foundation of Muslim societies.
Contents: 1. Beginnings 2. Development 3. Culmination 4. Islam triumphant 5. Islam agonistes.
The book examines in particular the influence of the medieval rational school of theology known as the Mu'tazila, which all but disappeared in Sunni Islam in the late Middle Ages, but which has been rediscovered by modernist Muslim intellectuals as part of their challenge against fundamentalist interpretations of Islam
Why the Dalai Lama Matters is not only a book about Tibet or the Dalai Lama. It offers revealing, provocative solutions for a world in conflict, dealing with the very fundamentals of human rights and freedom. Why the Dalai Lama Matters explores why he has earned the world's love and respect, and how restoring Tibet's autonomy within China is not only possible, but also highly probable.
A World Without Islam takes us on an illuminating journey through history, geopolitics, and religion to investigate whether there is something unique in Islam that breeds violence and conflict. Spanning the rise of Muhammad to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire to the present day, the book analyzes the roots of terrorism, the conflicts in Israel and Chechnya, and the role of Islam in support- i…
This is a single-volume history of Islam. The opening chapters briefly discuss the historical background of the Prophet Muhammad in the 7th century, through the rise of the Islam in 18th through 20th centuries. The final two chapters cover the significant events of the 1980s and 1990s.
In this stunningly intelligent book, Karen Armstrong, one of Britain's foremost commentators on religious affairs, traces the history of how men and women have perceived and experienced God, from the time of Abraham to the present.
The Prague Pilgrim is a book, which apart from instructions on tourist walks, fills in these routes with fascinating story-telling about the history of individual places, buildings and other interesting subjects.