Customer Reviews

The Islamic World in Ascendancy: From the Arab Conquests to the Siege of Vienna

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The author, a prolific writer on Middle Eastern history, politics, and conflict, makes pains early to describe this book as a review of the theocratic and geopolitical continuities from the time of the early Islamic conquests up to the (unsuccessful) Ottoman siege of Vienna, 1529.

The work is organized by strict chronology and enjoys a fair amount of material that is not readily known or available to the non-specialst, particularly those more steeped in European history - or who have typically viewed events east of Suez from the European lens. The author has synthesized a large amount of data for easy presentation in 20 chapters and in less than 220 pages. As could be expected, the book often has the feel of an encyclopedia - lots of data, little analysis or argument. You won't find deliberate articulation of reasons or causes for Islamic "ascendency" or empire building, but you will get a good feel for the utter chaos that afflicted the Middle East following the collapse of the Umayyad dynasty in 750 C.E. The effects of the Turkish, Mongol, and Mamluk migrations, butting heads with indigenous Arabs, Byzantines, Persians, Armenians, etc., makes for quite a narrative and the realization that "Islamic Ascendency" is probably a misnomer. It would have been quite stimulating had the author tackled that significant historical question.

In keeping with the theme of geopolitics, battles and campaigns are catalogued, but there is unfortunately little assessment as to the conduct or consequences of battle. There are some exceptions, which are notable -- the Ottoman's 1514 victory over the Safavids curiously gets 4 full paragraphs. It whets the appetite for what Sicker's crisp prose could have done for the other dozens of battles he mentions.

The above criticism aside, The Islamic World in Ascendency is a good primer or reference work for a quick view of the Middle East during the very turbulent millenium following the establishment of Muhammad's Islamic state.

Mr. Sicker is an author of some note within the field of Middle Eastern politics and history, and, at the outset, seems headed towards a good overview of Islam's rise to power. Unfortunately, he fails in both the breadth of the subject, and some startling failures to appreciate some of the factors of the rise, most notable among those being the role of the Ottoman fleet and corsairs.

The layout of the story told is straight-forward - a simple retelling of the chronology of the events lacking in any references to earlier events and their impact. This leads to the sensation of reading an encyclopedia, with almost the same mind-numbing after-effect.

But the real failure to appreciate the breadth of the rise is in Mr. Sicker's total disregard for the intense use of the Barbarossa brothers by both Selim II and Suleiman. These two brothers rose from obscure and lowly positions, and wound up leading the Mediteranean naval efforts for the Empire. The first brother, who was the person for whom the name Barbarossa was coined by the Europeans, laid the groundwork for an eventual control of the North African kingdoms by providing the biggest and most successful effort to help the Moors of Spain leave that country after Ferdinand and Isabella threatened wholescale genocide on any non-Catholics remaining in their country. After his death, the name Barbarossa was assumed by his younger brother, who became a famed Admiral, pirate, Pasha, and eventually, after the fall of Rhodes and scores of successful battles, became known as the "King of the Sea." Without the effort of this family and their corsairs, it is doubtful that the comquest of the southern portion of the Mediteranean would have succeeded at all. Yet Mr. Sicker does not mention the fhese effortsat all. Not even once. This makes the rest of his work a highly-flawed book.

So, it is sad that I come to this final evaluation, but I cannot in all good heart reccomend this book.