Synopses & Reviews
The Venture of Islam has been honored as a magisterial work of the mind since its publication in early 1975. In this three-volume study, illustrated with charts and maps, Hodgson traces and interprets the historical development of Islamic civilization from before the birth of Muhammad to the middle of the twentieth century. This work grew out of the famous course on Islamic civilization that Hodgson created and taught for many years at the University of Chicago.
In the second work of this three-volume set, Hodgson investigates the establishment of an international Islamic civilization through about 1500. This includes a theoretical discussion of cultural patterning in the Islamic world and the Occident.
"This is a nonpareil work, not only because of its command of its subject but also because it demonstrates how, ideally, history should be written."and#8212;The New Yorker
Table of Contents
List of Charts
List of Maps
Book Three: The Establishment of an International Civilization
Part I. Prologue to Book Three
I. The Formation of the International Political Order, 945-1118
II. The Social Order: Mercantile Interests, Military Power, Liberty
III. Maturity and Dialogue among the Intellectual Traditions, c. 945-1111
IV. The Sufism of the Tariqah Orders, c. 945-1273
V. The Victory of the New Sunni Internationalism, 1118-1258
VI. The Bloom of Persian Literary Culture and Its Times, c. 1111-1274
VII. Cultural Patterning in Islamdom and the Occident
Book Four: Crisis and Renewal: The Age of Mongol Prestige
Prologue to Book Four
I. After the Mongol Irruption: Politics and Society, 1259-1405
II. Conservation and Courtliness in the Intellectual Traditions, c. 1258-1503
III. The Visual Arts in an Islamic Setting, c. 1258-1503
IV. The Expansion of Islam, c. 1258-1503
A Selective Bibliography for Further Reading
Glossary of Selected Terms and Names
Index to Volume II