|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Home >
Books >
History >
Middle Eastern History >
When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World: The Rise And Fall of Islam's Greatest Dynasty
|
When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World: The Rise And Fall of Islam's Greatest Dynasty
By
Hugh Kennedy
(This is the USA edition of the book 'The Court of the Caliphs')
Baghdad was founded in 762 by the Abbasid caliphate, which, claiming its legitimacy from lineage to the family of the prophet Muhammad, had overthrown the Umayyad caliphate. Chronicling the first two of the Abbasids' five centuries of rule, historian Kennedy acquaints nonspecialists with an important segment of Islamic history, perhaps best known to Westerners as the period setting for Arabian Nights. Sensitive to the biases of available sources, Kennedy picks through their panegyrics to political winners or condemnations of losers to present a narrative that realistically outlines the motivations and characters of caliphs, viziers, and even court attendants. He recounts contested successions to the caliphate, with detail on the immediate political tensions and their usually gruesome release. Weakened by these struggles for the throne and essentially a powerless pawn of generals by the time Kennedy leaves off in 935, the Abbasid caliphate nevertheless produced a munificent court culture.
|
|
|
Liberty Books' Bestsellers
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
