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Shadow Of The Sword: Global Empire And The Rise Of A New Religion (2012)

by Tom Holland(Favorite Author)

3.88 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1408700085 (ISBN13: 9781408700082)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Little, Brown

review 1: I thoroughly enjoyed "In the shadow of the sword". I have read Tom Holland previous books before and he always manages to present a fresh and coherent perspective on the themes he approaches. In this particular case, I believe he delt with a very delicate and interesting theme which is the origin of Islam. Not only that, but he also presents this history together with the history and religious history of the contemporary eartern roman empire and persian empire, which were the main players in the region and were, of course, very influential.
review 2: I wish Tom Holland had written the book peeking tantalisingly out of this one -- a history of ideas about the birth of 'religion' as a modern concept in late antiquity's melting pot. Instead, the zomgsotopical! foc... moreus on Islam felt forced (a drinking game could be played with the number of anachronistic buzzwords chucked in -- a C9th 'terrorist nation', really?!), and Holland's approach often wincingly (and unavoidably, given his academic and linguistic background) orientalist. The humour (another nod to populism? I don't remember TH's other books trying quite so hard to be so hip'n'snarksome) was also very hit & miss, and I was especially annoyed, given the premise of the book (to historicise Islam rather than faithfully accepting its own origin myths), that he relied so heavily on highly luridly biased sources on (e.g.) Justinian for cheap sensationalist thrills; I'm sure TH'd acknowledge that just because a source is contemporary and Christian doesn't make it reliable, but it certainly seems as if he thought so.... less

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