preview

Marshall Hodgson And Islamic Civilization

Better Essays
Open Document
Marshall Hodgson was born in 1922 and was an academic in Islamic studies and a renowned historian at University of Chicago. He held the position of chairperson of the interdisciplinary CSTC. This book is a great piece of work that has received various honors since being published in 1975. It uses maps and charts to provide an interpretation of Islamic civilization’s development of history from the time Muhammad was born to the middle of the 20th century. A close scrutiny of this work discloses that it grew out of the course which Hodgson taught on Islamic civilization at the University of Chicago for various years. Arguably, the book is an unparalleled piece of work due to the author’s mastery of the subject and its demonstration of the way history needs to be written. In the course of his lifetime, Hodgson did not make many publications, but remains among the most influential historians because of this book. The compelling language he adopts can reconfigure the study of Islam. In addition, he provides a great definition of terminologies focusing on religion and the history of Islam. The most significant aspect is perhaps the way Hodgson manages to provide a distinction of Islamic and Islamicate phenomena. These were regional products where Muslims remained culturally superior. Through the book, Hodgson paints a global view of the history of the world whereby Europe’s rise represented the end-product of Eurasian cultural evolutionary development. The book provides a
Get Access
Related
Get Access