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How Islam Created the Modern World | 
 enlarge | Author: Mark Graham
Publisher: Amana Publications
Category: Book
List Price: $21.95
Buy New: $17.55
You Save: $4.40 (20%)
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Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 527972
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 208
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 1590080432
Dewey Decimal Number: 297.09
EAN: 9781590080436
ASIN: 1590080432
Publication Date: September 1, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In the Middle Ages, while Europe was mired in superstition and feudal chaos, Baghdad was the intellectual center of the world. It was there that an army of translators and scholars took the wisdom of the Greeks and combined it with their own cultural traditions to create a scientific, mathematical and philosophical golden age. Their accomplishments were staggering, including the development of modern medicine, chemistry, and algebra. Muslim scientists correctly calculated the circumference of the globe in the tenth century. Muslim musicians introduced the guitar and musical notation to the Europe. And Muslim philosophers invented the scientific method and paved the way for the Enlightenment. At the dawn of the Renaissance, Christian Europe was wearing Persian clothes, singing Arab songs, reading Spanish Muslim philosophy and eating off Mamluk Turkish brassware. This is the story of how Muslims taught Europe to live well and think clearly. It is the story of how Islam created the Modern World.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 A diatribe, but still useful October 18, 2008
Eric M. Segal (Arlington MA)
This book is a tirade against anti-Islamic chauvinism. It makes no attempt to be even-handed, or even fair in arguing the importance of Islamic influence in the development of key elements of western culture, and in illuminating the extent to which that influence has been ignored and obscured. br / br /Still, for all its one-sidedness, I would recommend the book. We have all heard so much negative information about Islam, that an argument on the other side cannot help but be useful. br / br /On the other hand, the book's "Great Men" approach is really not very helpful. Rather than describe the culture of early Islam, and how it led to great advanced in algebra, medicine, etc, the author provides little hagiograhies on a few influential people. This leaves the impression that Islamic culture was not that different from Europe during the middle ages, except that a few really smart people made great advances -- and this is just as misleading as the typical Western view of Islam.
 Historical Fiction July 19, 2008
Sertorius
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
Let's see, Graham claims Islam created the modern world; this revelation must be shocking to most Muslims still mired in the 14th century. Graham's scurrilous musings notwithstanding, the Islamic world has yet to experience a modern renaissance, scientific revolution, enlightenment, industrial revolution or democratic revolution. They can't even maintain their oil wells or industries without foreign experts. Graham may distort and skewer the facts any way he wants, but his historical fiction cannot alter the reality that Islamic countries can't even find the modern world without a Western cultural road map.
 making a long story short May 17, 2008
pencil and pen name (Bay Area, Calif.)
I love history, and read all kinds. This author makes a long story short, so to speak, and it's a relief after trudging through some heavier works. While reading, I had many instances of "why don't I--why doesn't everyone--know that?! We should!" There's everything from musical notation to a period he titles "World War I". br /It all kept me intrigued, while respecting the scholarship that doesn't try to prove itself by showing off--just by revealing. br /
A good review of a subject not very much dwelled upon. February 17, 2008
Prof Dr Ilbeyi Agabeyoglu (Turkey)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
It is obvious that the author has thoroughly investigated the subject. He points out many issues that are not very well known in the western world. The Arab world after becoming Islam had made tremendous progress in science, philosophy, medicine, astronomy, mathematics, and religion. Meanwhile, Europe was in illiteracy and fanaticism reigned in Christianity. It is obvious that the Islam world pushed Europe to renaissance and reform. These are openly put forth in this book. I recommend this book as an easily read one. One subject where the book falls short is what happened after the Arabs declined. Turks(Seljuks, Anatolian Seljuks and the Ottomans) carried the flag forward. Perhaps a future edition may cover that.
Well done, easy read, thoughtful March 31, 2007
L. F Sherman (Wiscasset, ME United States)
14 out of 19 found this review helpful
"Get over it." Many who might buy this book are from the generations taught about the wonders of "Western Civilization" - a persuasion still behind some who purport to teach "World History" today when many colleges are more professional and career training having shed history and foreign language as graduation requirements. Our "education" is so infused with false perspectives that a sociologist who writes a fascinating study of early Christianity can produce a sad example claiming Christianity to be the source of reason and modernity which almost totally ignores the essential role of Islamic sciences and technology. An unexamined "orthodoxy" dominates our historiography. br / br /All these teachers and students, and anyone else with an interest in history, should read Graham's essay. It is provocative, an easy read, and has far more legitimacy than the likes of how the "Irish Saved Civilization". br / br /The brevity and style necessarily will lead to objections about how things are presented here and there. But the thesis and examples as well as the admirable summary of philosophical issues make a strong, effective, and not exaggerated case for his thesis. (One might legitimately complain that the story becomes so `thin' after the Renaissance period that it needs further discussion beyond reference to continued use of Arab medical texts and Ibn Khaldun.) br / br /The thesis is not exaggerated and much more could have been said about other areas of technology and mechanics, some perhaps even inspiring another Western "hero" Leonardo da Vinci. It is not documented nor presented as scholarly detail and is all the more readble accordingly. br / br /An open mind and a bit of exploration of new ideas are well rewarded. There are tomes with detail elsewhere for those seriously interested but never have I seen such a readable and stimulating introduction. br /
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