In the Shadow of the Sword

The Birth of Islam and the Rise of the Global Arab Empire

By: Tom Holland

Narrated by: Steven Crossley

Length: 18 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

The evolution of the Arab empire is one of the supreme narratives of ancient history, a story dazzlingly rich in drama, character, and achievement. In this exciting and sweeping history - the third in his trilogy of books on the ancient world - Tom Holland describes how the Arabs emerged to carve out a stupefyingly vast dominion in a matter of decades, overcoming seemingly insuperable odds to create an imperial civilization.

With profound bearing on the most consequential events of our time, Holland ties the exciting story of Islam's ascent to the crises and controversies of the present.

©2012 Tom Holland (P)2015 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Elegantly written.... A veritable tour de force. ( The Wall Street Journal)

not what I expected

I was expecting a historical review and not a religious one that was disappointing to me

Engrossing narrative, well told with a disconnected ending

The first third of this narrative is exactly what you should expect from Tom Holland and the 'Fire' if the name is well explored, but the middle third veers curiously into Constantinople for a ponderous amount of time. The last third, while geography related to the first, seems to be of a whole other project. Virtually unrelated, it is a narrative worth reading, albeit a strange direction that really does not seem connected ti the rest. Still Tom Holland narrative style makes for an engaging read.

Tackles A Difficult Subject Masterfully

The rise of Islam is often only told in the context of a religious revolution that is somehow unrealated to the political realities of the era. This book does include this aspect of the story, but also goes to great lengths to show the context that allowed a small people group to take over much of the ancient world.

Magnificent !

Erudite, witty and engaging a history clearly important to our times. All should read or listen too.

GREAT BOOK ON ISLAM ORIGIN

Libro muy interesante sobre los orígenes del Islam y de Mahoma en el contexto histórico de la edad antigua. Muy clara la explicación sobre las contradicciones del Corán y sobre los mitos sobre Mahoma

long but interesting

this book's author does a good job not revealing his religious biases, as he talks a bit condescendingly about all three monotheistic religions. judaism actually comes out smelling best, though not by much. he does tie together some fascinating conjectures and makes mountains out of the molehills of information he was able to find regarding the development of islam. he has made some very intersting points based on his original document research, in particular regarding whether mecca was always central, and the interesting inclusions in the quran from judaism, christianity, and zoroastrianism. this is one of the looongest audiobooks i've listened to. good luck!

A vivid, illuminating trip through late antiquity

This tale sparkles with personalities, beliefs, collisions, and richly-staged history, moving seamlessly between these different levels. The author is a great storyteller (in wonderful sync with the narrator's style), not so much an exhaustive expositor of various possible views of these things. It starts a bit awkwardly, I thought, as it veers off for quite awhile into the unreliability of sources for modern verifiable historical details on various prophets and prophetic religions of antiquity. This is repeated as needed when a new religion or sect is introduced. But suddenly, these issues are mostly shelved, and we are immersed in the main mode of storytelling which is vivid and virtuoso. I am happy to hop on for the ride, vowing to return to more placid, plodding scholarly explanations another time. Meanwhile, I feel as if I was in the times alongside the people, and my sense of all these peoples' origins is brought to shimmering life. Islam through most of the story is merely anticipated, as we spend much time in other regions of the near- and middle- east and among non-Arab peoples and their sects. The portrait of Constantinople and particularly its Roman overlords was fantastic. Here are Jews, Christians, Pagans, Zoroastrians, yet others, and of course, Arabs as their civilization gathered itself and quickly took amazing flight.

Just finished a very dense history of Islam

This history of the rise of Islam, was fascinating, though the language was way too thick and difficult to follow. Due to its educational value, something like this book is a worthwhile alternative to fantasy books like Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones - because the story in this book really happened. The first two-thirds of the book tells the background that led up to Islam. I never realized that a horrible plague around 500 AD demolished the Christian Roman empire as well as the Persian, making way for the Arabs to step in and spread Islam. Over time, Judaism, Christianity, Zoroastranism, Islam, and others, all rose and fell in dominance and popularity, each success or failure being attributed to God, Allah, Jesus, or what-have-you, each group thinking God was on their side against the others. And it continues to this day. We are often still very medieval in our beliefs.

Informative; Performance exceptional

Another sound Tom Holland history on a vast topic. His style is literary and not as clear or maybe as artisan as Tamin Ansary in his Destiny Disrupted that I read immediately before this one. Holland writes well, I like it, It flows smoothly, but he composes his sentences less geometrically and more rounded. Steven Crossley is exceptional in narrating the book. I thought I was listening to Derek Jacobi before checking the credit. Crossley has a smooth British delivery. His performance is well modulated and paced. Very conducive to comprehending the information in this great book.

Interesting

This book is not really about the rise of Islam so much as the interplay between Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians and Muslims in the Middle East around the time of the fall of Rome and rise of Islam. There are some controversial claims that need to be taken with a grain of salt, but the story as a whole is the best overview of the world's major monotheistic religions as they were shaped for the modern world that I have been able to find.