The Islamic Enlightenment by Christopher De Bellaigue

The Islamic Enlightenment by Christopher De Bellaigue

Beginning with the dramatic collision of East and West following Napoleon's arrival in Egypt, and taking us through 200 tumultuous years of Middle Eastern history, the author introduces us to key figures and reformers; from Egypt's visionary ruler Muhammad Ali to brave radicals like Iran's first feminist Qurrat al-Ayn and writer Ibrahim Sinasi.

An eye-opening, well-written and very timely book, which can help us understand better the complex relationship between the Muslim world and modernityWhile both Islamic extremists and Western bigots find it convenient to stress the incompatibility of Islam and modernity, Christopher de Bellaigue shows that Islam is whatever Muslims make of it, and that at least some Muslims have made of it something very modern. -- YUVAL NOAH HARARI author of SAPIENS and HOMO DEUS
This book is an enlightenment in itself, and a salient one in this age when everyone seems to feel entitled to a firm opinion about Islam and Muslims. -- David Aaronovitch * The Times *
A highly original and informative survey of the clashes between Islam and modernity in Istanbul, Cairo and Tehran in the last two hundred years. Brilliant. -- Orhan Pamuk
Christopher de Bellaigue has long been one of our most resourceful and stimulating interpreters of realities veiled by fear and prejudice. In The Islamic Enlightenment, he cuts through the complacent opposition of Islam-versus-modernity to reveal a fascinating world: one in which complex human beings constantly change, improvise and adjust under the pressures of history. It is the best sort of book for our disordered days: timely, urgent and illuminating. -- Pankaj Mishra
This is a nuanced and empathetic view of the Islamic world at one of its most challenging and enthralling moments: its history-changing encounter with western modernity… At a time of profound suspicion and mistrust between the West and the Muslim world, this is an important, beautifully written book that offers a powerful corrective to the notion that Islam contains an inbuilt prejudice against modernity. It strikes a blow, as the most readable writers do, for common humanity. -- Justin Marozzi * Sunday Times *

Christopher de Bellaigue is the award-winning author of The Lion House: The Rise of Suleyman the Magnificent, which was chosen as a book of the year by The Times, Sunday Times, Spectator and New Yorker among others, as well as five previous books, including The Islamic Enlightenment, which was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-fiction and the Orwell Prize for Political Writing in 2017.

As a reporter he has covered war, politics, society and the environment in five continents for the Economist, the New York Review of Books, the Guardian and the BBC. He is the founder of the Lake District Book Festival in Cartmel, Cumbria, an Honorary Fellow of the University of St Andrews and in 2026 he will take up a Visiting Fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford.


www.christopherdebellaigue.com

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780099578703
ISBN 10	0099578700
Title	The Islamic Enlightenment
Author	Christopher De Bellaigue
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Vintage Publishing
Year published	2018-02-22
Number of pages	448
Prizes	Short-listed for Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction 2017, Short-listed for Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction 2017 (UK), Short-listed for Orwell Prize 2018 (UK), Long-listed for Cundill Prize for Historical Literature 2017 (UK)
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.