Islam

A Short History [Modern Library Chronicles]

By: Karen Armstrong

Narrated by: Richard M. Davidson

Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

Best-selling author and renowned religious scholar Karen Armstrong presents a concise and articulate history of Islam, the world's fastest-growing faith. Beginning with the Prophet Muhammad's flight from Medina and concluding with an examination of modern Islamic practices and concerns, Armstrong delivers an unbiased overview. She contends that no religion is more feared and misunderstood by the Western world as Islam, and firmly challenges the notion that these two civilizations are on a collision course.

©2002 Karen Armstrong

Very good book. Breaks it down for the casual reader and anyone else for that matter.

Right on, right on, right on! This was a very good book. It spoke to me like a story and Armstrong is a very good storyteller

Somewhat apologetic

Karen Armstrong's history of Islam reads like a fairy tale, and that's the problem. One senses that the Islam she presents is not the one readily accepted by most Muslims. Often speaking of the original spirit or intent of the religion, Armstrong leaves this reader/listener is left wondering how she knows what runs contrary to early Islamic belief or what complements the original spirit of Islam. It would have been nice to have the book before me, but it does not appear that she allows the sources to speak for themselves. Instead, the reader/listener is confronted with a series of generalizations and overstatements, particularly concerning Mohammed.

The apologetic tone of the book is frustrating. If Muslims are attacked, they are victims. If Muslims make war, they felt threatened. Not that the author defends aggression by any group, but she seems to slant history in favor of Muslims. Some of her assertions about Mohammed are extraordinary, particularly that he "single-handedly" ended the system of reprisals and vendettas in Arabia (Mohammed led reprisals and vendettas! and they seem to continue after his death).

She frames the story of Islam in the context of modernity, which is interesting and worth examining more closely. She sees the conflict between the West and Islam as being one between a modern society and an agrarian culture unable to keep pace.

The overall thesis of her book, that Islam is not an inherently intolerant religion, is, however, compelling. Islam is often presented as a wholly intolerant religion--which may be true in very many instances, but not comprehensively.

It would be interesting to read a Muslim response to her many assertions. (I don't know what religious persuasion Armstrong is, but she appears to be very liberal.)

Armstrong's Islam

Armstrong's picture of Islam is illuminating and insightful. Her discussion of fundamentalism in general is valuable.
Unfortunately, the recording suffers from a reader who didn't bother to learn to pronounce either the Arabic or the religious vocabulary. Apart from that annoyance, I would give the book five stars.

S. Treloar, M Div

Good overview but a lot of history

I had previously read the Qur'an and I wanted a book to better understand Islam. What I learned was that the history of Islam is really complicated. There were more dates and places than I could keep track of, such that for much of it I felt I was listening to a textbook. Still, it provides a good overview in a relatively short amount of time.

Text book delivery until the last couple of chapters

Great if you really want to know the exchange of leadership through Muslim history since Muhammed but hard to follow with the names of the people. Very text book in the delivery but great insight into the Islamic world.

A Short History?

That title is a bit deceiving. Perhaps I should have been looking for something like "A Brief Understanding", or a "For Dummies" version. It was great & more concise than the title lead me to believe, but it was not an easy listen. If you're anything like me, plan on more than 1 bag of popcorn by the fireplace, & certainly try to skip the bottle of wine. A LOUD CHIME between chapters would have been nice, beyond that... GOOD BOOK ! ;)

Well done!

This review is of the paper edition.

A well written history that will explain plenty to someone who wants to know more about Islamic history. This is not an in-depth study but an easy read. I only wish more Muslims would read it, I think the book would be an eye opener for them too.

Narrator ruined this book

This was a good short history of Islam, that perhaps gave a generous interpretation of some parts of its history.

The narrator, however, consistently mispronounced the most common Arabic words and phrases. Yes it's a foreign language. But how can you keep pronouncing the name 'Hussein' as Hu-sign? And that wasn't the worst of it. His pronunciation was totally distracting and I sometimes got the feeling he was doing it on purpose; no one could be that ignorant. Karen Armstrong deserves better.

Great history, tying it to current day lives

wonderfully covered history from the perspective of both Muslims and non Muslims. lessons derived and applied to the lives of today. some are companies about the pronunciation but I thought they were clear and totally fine. great listen. very insightful.

O.K., but the last part hard to beleive

I am glad I listened to the audio book, and would recommend it, but it kind of spun out control at the end. The first 4/5 was an interesting history of that region of the world and seemed to have little heavy political or religious bias. As it closes, the pro-Islam bias gets stronger and stronger until (in my view) the explanations for current violence are pure rationalization by the author. It is a shame, the last sections really made me question whether I should have taken the first parts at face value or not.