The Cambridge illustrated history of the Islamic world / edited by Francis Robinson.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 313-318) and index.

Foreword / Ira M. Lapidus -- 1. The Rise of Islam in the World / Patricia Crone -- 2. The Emergence of the Islamic World System 1000-1500 / Robert Irwin -- 3. The Islamic World in the Age of European Expansion 1500-1800 / Stephen E. Dale -- 4. The Islamic World in the Era of Western Domination 1800 to the Present / Sarah Ansari -- 5. The Economy in Muslim Societies / K. N. Chaudhuri -- 6. The Ordering of Muslim Societies / Basim Musallam -- 7. Knowledge, its Transmission and the Making of Muslim Societies / Francis Robinson -- 8. Artistic Expressions of Muslim Societies / Stephen Vernoit -- Rulers of the Islamic World.

"For most of the period from the eighth to the eighteenth centuries, the Muslim world was dominant in terms both of geographical spread and creativity. Today Muslims account for one fifth of the world's population. Yet there is widespread misunderstanding in the West of what Islam really is." "Francis Robinson and his team set out to address this paradox. Dismantling the western perception of Islam as a monolithic culture, they examine the economic basis of Muslim societies - their social ordering, their forms of knowledge and its transmission, and their expression in art, architecture and in the courtly arts and their modern developments." "Particular emphasis is placed on the interrelationship between the Islamic world and the West - both share many of the same religious, intellectual and cultural roots. The book demonstrates that it is only recently that western ways came to dominate. Both civilizations owe much to one another."--BOOK JACKET.