The Early Islamic Conquests (Princeton Studies on the Near East) [Hardcover]

Fred McGraw Donner (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 489 pages
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr (December 1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691053278
• ISBN-13: 978-0691053271
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,177,769 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Fred M. Donner is Professor of Near Eastern History in the Oriental Institute and Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago. He is also currently Director of the University's Center for Middle Eastern Studies. His scholarly work focuses on early Islam, Islamic historiography, and medieval Islamic social history. He received his B.A. (1968) and Ph.D. (1975) degrees from Princeton University, and also studied in Lebanon and at the Friedrich-Alexander Universität in Erlangen, Germany.

Author photo by Dr. Wolfgang Schwaigert.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Authoritative overview of Early Futuhat, January 15, 2010

By 

Howitzer (WI USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Early Islamic Conquests (Acls History E-Book Project Reprints) (Paperback)

Dr Donner's work can be divided into two parts the first section deals with the historical information regarding the conquests, the possible motives of early muslims and the nature of the medina goverment.
Second section deals with the personalities involved in the conquests and the evidence for that in the different sources.This is a much needed resource esp for those readers not fluent in Arabic or those not having access to primary texts.This is not the MILITARY history of the conquests, few details of battles , tactics or composition of forces ( TOE)
Dr Donner is one of the few extremely objective scholars of early islamic history and he deserves all the respect he gets.I hope the muslims read his works more that would increase their understanding of non-muslim perception of early islamic history free of prejudice and polemics.

8 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent overview of its subject, October 17, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Early Islamic Conquests (Princeton Studies on the Near East) (Hardcover)

This book was an excellent study of the subject, and is a good "base work" for anyone studying it. Sometimes the writing tends to repeat itself, but the sheer complexity of the argument may make this a positive. Good portrayal of the historical setting.