Islam

A Short History [Modern Library Chronicles]

By: Karen Armstrong

Narrated by: Richard M. Davidson

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

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.

Pretty good if overly optimistic overview of Islam

Armstrong gives a pretty good overview of Islam. There are major problems with pronunciation here that are distracting. Shah sounds like Shaw, Calif sounds KAYleaf, and Hussein is so garbled that it's hard.to give an equivalent. However the narrator also says "forbad" where my New Yorker ears would expect.to hear "forbade," as in rhyming with "laid." So this is not merely a problem with pronouncing Arabic and Persian words. Other than that the narrator has a pleasing voice.

The substantve problems with this book are well known. Armstrong has a liberal bias, which while I share, has caused her to gloss over the most problematic aspects of Islam.This summary is more about Islam as a Western Liberal would hope it to be, rather than how it is. Nonetheless it's a valuable book and a good antidote to Islamophobia. The truth lies somewhere in the middle.

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

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.