What is a caliphate? What is the history of the idea? How is the term used and abused today? In the first modern account of a subject of critical importance today, acclaimed historian Hugh Kennedy answers these questions by chronicling the rich history of the caliphate, from the death of Muhammad to the present. At its height, the caliphate stretched from Spain to the borders of China and was the most powerful political entity in western Eurasia. In an era when Paris and London boasted a few thousand inhabitants, Baghdad and Cairo were sophisticated centres of trade and culture, and the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates were distinguished by major advances in science, medicine and architecture. By ending with the recent re-emergence of caliphal ideology within fundamentalist Islam, The Caliphate underscores why it is crucial that we know about this form of Islamic government to understand the political ideas of the so-called Islamic State and other Islamist groups in the twenty first century.

A Pelican Introduction: The Caliphate

Religion & Spirituality

Kennedy, Hugh

Islam

Pelican

From a rebellion planned in a remote desert town to the founding of Baghdad in AD 762, the rule of the Abbasid dynasty was looked back on as the golden era of the Islamic Conquest. The Muslim world was ruled by a single sovereign, who waged war against the Byzantines and protected the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. For the last time in history, a mighty empire was based on the ancient Mesopotamian heartland that had once supported the Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians. Every element of his story is drawn from the original Arabic texts: 'the writers of the ninth and tenth centuries knew their rulers had their fair share of human frailties and were quite happy to describe them. To produce a sanitized and whitewashed version of history does no service to our understanding'. The rise and fall of the last great empire centred on the Tigris and Euphrates should be as well known as the histories of Ancient Greece or Rome.

The Court of the Caliphs: The Rise and Fall of Islam's Greatest Dynasty

Literature & Fiction

Contemporary

Weidenfeld&Nicolson

Today's Arab world was created at breathtaking speed. Whereas the Roman Empire took over 200 years to reach its fullest extent, the Arab armies overran the whole Middle East, North Africa and Spain within a generation. They annhilated the thousand-year-old Persian Empire and reduced the Byzantine Empire to little more than a city-state based around Constantinople. Within a hundred years of the Prophet's death, Muslim armies destroyed the Visigoth kingdom of Spain, and crossed the Pyrenees to occupy southern France. This is the first popular English language account of this astonishing remaking of the political and religious map of the world. Hugh Kennedy's sweeping narrative reveals how the arab armies conquered almost everything in their path. One of the few academic historians with a genuine talent for story telling, he offers a compelling mix of larger-than-life characters, battles, treachery and the clash of civilizations.

The Great Arab Conquests

Da Capo Press

They were history's most famous and ferocious warriors. From the Huns to the Mongols, successive waves of nomadic horsemen swept out of the great steppes of Central Asia and wreaked havoc on the static civilizations of Europe, India, and China. How were they so successful? And, what were the limits of their powers? An esteemed professor--who specializes in Arabic and medieval studies--reveals just how "underdeveloped" societies spawned such great generals, from Attila to Genghis Khan; how nomadic Arabs swarmed from the desert in the 7th century to carve out an empire that stretched from Spain to the Chinese frontier; why the Mongols failed to conquer Europe; and where those unique, seaborne raiders, the Vikings, fit into this story.

Mongols, Huns and Vikings: Nomads at War (History of Warfare)

History

Ancient Civilizations

Cassell

The golden age of Islam” in the eighth and ninth centuries was as significant to world history as the Roman Empire was in the first and second centuries. Islamic culture and enterprise stretched from Tunisia to India; its legacy influenced politics and society for years to come. From the founding of the city of Baghdad in A.D. 762 to the end of the ninth century, the rule of the Abbasid dynasty was the zenith of Islamic conquest and influence. The caliphs of Baghdad formed the model for succeeding Muslim regimes, from military conquests to court-sponsored poetry and literature, from building palaces to establishing court bureaucracies. Yet the true story of this fascinating empire has rarely been told outside the academic world.In this deftly woven narrative, Hugh Kennedy introduces us to the rich history and flourishing culture of the period and to the men and women of the palaces at Baghdad and Samarrathe caliphs, viziers, eunuchs, and women of the haremwho fashioned the glorious days of the Arabian Nights . It is an epic story in every sense, with larger-than-life rulers, exotic slave girls, inventive tortures, and enough court intrigue to frighten a Borgia.

When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World: The Rise and Fall of Islam's Greatest Dynasty

Americas

The "golden age of Islam" in the eighth and ninth centuries was as significant to world history as the Roman Empire was in the first and second centuries. The rule of Baghdad's Abbasid Dynasty stretched from Tunisia to India, and its legacy influenced politics and society for years to come. In this deftly woven narrative, Hugh Kennedy introduces us to the rich history and flourishing culture of the period, and the men and women of the palaces at Baghdad and Samarra-the caliphs, viziers, eunuchs, and women of the harem that produced the glorious days of the Arabian Nights.

Europe

Da Capo

Today's Arab world was created at breathtaking speed. In just over one hundred years following the death of Mohammed in 632, Arabs had subjugated a territory with an east-west expanse greater than the Roman Empire, and they did it in about one-half the time. By the mid-eighth century, Arab armies had conquered the thousand-year-old Persian Empire, reduced the Byzantine Empire to little more than a city-state based around Constantinople, and destroyed the Visigoth kingdom of Spain. The cultural and linguistic effects of this early Islamic expansion reverberate today. This is the first popular English-language account in many years of this astonishing remaking of the political and religious map of the world. Hugh Kennedy's sweeping narrative reveals how the Arab armies conquered almost everything in their path, and brings to light the unique characteristics of Islamic rule. One of the few academic historians with a genuine talent for story telling, Kennedy offers a compelling mix of larger-than-life characters, fierce battles, and the great clash of civilizations and religions.

The Great Arab Conquests: How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live In

Middle East

In this engaging history, world-renowned historian Hugh Kennedy deftly sews together the stories of the people, armies, and events that conquered an area from Spain to China in just over 100 years.

Great Arab Conquests: How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live In

The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates (A History of the Near East)

The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates is an accessible history of the Near East from c.600 to 1050 AD, the period in which Islamic society was formed. 
Beginning with the life of Muhammad and the birth of Islam, Hugh Kennedy goes on to explore the great Arab conquests of the seventh century and the golden age of the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates when the world of Islam was politically and culturally far more developed than the West. The crisis of the tenth century put an end to the political unity of the Muslim world and saw the emergence of the Fatimid caliphate in Egypt and independent dynasties in the Eastern Islamic world. The book concludes with the advent of Seljuk Turkish rule in the mid-eleventh century. This new edition is fully updated to take into account recent research and there are two entirely new chapters covering the economic background during the period, and the north-east of Iran in the post Abbasid period. Based on extensive reading of the original Arabic sources, Kennedy breaks away from the Orientalist tradition of seeing early Islamic history as a series of ephemeral rulers and pointless battles by drawing attention to underlying long-term social and economic processes. 
The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates deals with issues of continuing and increasing relevance in the twenty-first century, when it is, perhaps, more important than ever to understand the early development of the Islamic world. Students and scholars of early Islamic history will find this book a clear, informative and readable introduction to the subject.

Reference

Routledge

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kennedy, Hugh. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Kennedy, Hugh

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kennedy, Hugh. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

A Pelican Introduction: The Caliphate

The Court of the Caliphs: The Rise and Fall of Islam's Greatest Dynasty

The Great Arab Conquests

Mongols, Huns and Vikings: Nomads at War (History of Warfare)

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

The Great Arab Conquests: How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live In

Great Arab Conquests: How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live In

The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates (A History of the Near East)

The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates (A History of the Near East)