The venture of Islam: conscience and history in a world civilization, Vol. 1

The Venture of Islam has been honored as a magisterial work of the mind since its publication in early 1975. In this three-volume study, illustrated with charts and maps, Hodgson traces and interprets the historical development of Islamic civilization from before the birth of Muhammad to the middle of the twentieth century. This work grew out of the famous course on Islamic civilization that Hodgson created and taught for many years at the University of Chicago. "This is a nonpareil work, not only because of its command of its subject but also because it demonstrates how, ideally, history should be written." The New Yorker Volume 1, The Classical Age of Islam , analyzes the world before Islam, Muhammad's challenge, and the early Muslim state between 625 and 692. Hodgson then discusses the classical civilization of the High Caliphate. The volume also contains a general introduction to the complete work and a foreword by Reuben Smith, who, as Hodgson's colleague and friend, finished the Venture of Islam after the author's death and saw it through to publication. Frontmatter (page N/A) List of Charts (page vi) List of Maps (page vii) Marshall Hodgson and The Venture of Islam, by Reuben W. Smith (page viii) Publisher's Note (page xi) Introduction to the Study of Islamic Civilization (page 3) General Prologue: The Islamic Vision in Religion and in Civilization (page 71) BOOK ONE The Islamic Infusion: Genesis of a New Social Order (page 101) I. The World Before Islam (page 103) II. Muhammad's Challenge, 570-624 (page 146) III. The Early Muslim State, 625-692 (page 187) BOOK TWO The Classical Civilization of the High Caliphate (page 231) Prologue to Book Two (page 233) I. The Islamic Opposition, 692-750 (page 241) II. The Absolutism in Flower, 750-813 (page 280) III. The Shar'i Islamic Vision, c. 750-945 (page 315) IV. Muslim Personal Piety: Confrontations with History and with Selfhood, c. 750-945 (page 359) V. Speculation: Falsafah and Kalam, c. 750-945 (page 410) VI. Adab: The Bloom of Arabic Literary Culture, c. 813-945 (page 444) VII. The Dissipation of the Absolutist Tradition, 813-945 (page 473) A Selective Bibliography for Further Reading (page 497) Glossary of Selected Terms and Names (page 513) Index to Volume I (page 519) Volume 1: The Classical Age of Islam analyzes the world before Islam, Muhammad's challenge, and the early Muslim state between 625 and 692. Hodgson then discusses the classical civilization of the High Caliphate. The volume also contains a general introduction to the complete work and a foreword by Reuben Smith, who, as Hodgson's colleague and friend, finished the Venture of Islam after the author's death and saw it through to publication. In Volume 2: The Expansion of Islam in the Middle Periods, Hodgson investigates the establishment of an international Islamic civilization through about 1500. This includes a theoretical discussion of cultural patterning in the Islamic world and the Occident. In Volume 3: The Gunpowder Empires and Modern Times, Hodgson investigates the establishment of an international Islamic civilization through about 1500. This includes a theoretical discussion of cultural patterning in the Islamic world and the Occident Presents and analyzes the world history of Islam from 625 A.D. to the second flowering of Islam during the Safari, Iimuri, and Ottoman empires The Islamicate was unique among the great civilizations of its time in failing to maintain the earlier lettered traditions of its region.