"Review from previous edition clear, fascinating and valuable"--The Guardian
"stimulating ... The continuous regard paid to the development of trade and economy deserves partucular praise."--History
"Professor Lewis has admirably achieved his object, notably bringing out broad economic trends"--International Affairs
.,." enormously influential history ... after reading 'Gibbon on Muhammad', it is tempting to speculate that Lewis's long-standing interest in the eighteenth-century historian may have influenced his own ambition to scan grand horizons, his taste for irony and his unmistakably elegant literary style."--Robert Irwin, Middle Eastern Studies

List of Maps; Introduction; 1. Arabia Before Islam; 2. Muhammad and the Rise of Islam; 3. The Age of the Conquests; 4. The Arab Kingdom; 5. The Islamic Empire; 6. 'The Revolt of Islam'; 7. The Arabs in Europe; 8. Islamic Civilization; 9. The Arabs in Eclipse; 10. The Impact of the West; Chronological Table