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The 1400-year-old schism between Sunnis and Shi'is is currently
reflected in the destructive struggle for hegemony between Saudi
Arabia and Iran - with no apparent end in sight. But how did this
conflict begin, and why is it now the focus of so much attention?
In this definitive account, John McHugo charts the history of Islam
from the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad to the present day. He
describes the conflicts that raged over the succession to the
Prophet, how Sunnism and Shi'ism evolved as different sects during
the Abbasid caliphate, and how the rivalry between the empires of
the Sunni Ottomans and Shi'i Safavids ensured that the split would
continue into the modern age. In recent decades, this centuries-old
divide has acquired a new toxicity resulting in violence across the
Arab and Muslim world.
Syria's descent into chaos since 2011 has claimed hundreds of
thousands of lives, while more than nine million people have fled
their homes. In this timely account, John McHugo charts the history
of Syria from the First World War to the present and considers why
Syria's foundations as a nation have proved so fragile. He examines
the country's thwarted attempts at independence under French rule
before turning to more recent events: two generations of rule by
the Assad family, sectarian tensions, the pressures that turned an
aborted revolution into a proxy war, and the appearance of ISIS. As
the conflict in Syria rages on, McHugo provides a rare and
authoritative guide to a complex nation that demands our attention.
The key to understanding the Arab world today is unlocking its
past. In this authoritative account, John McHugo takes the reader
through the political, social and intellectual history of the Arabs
from the Roman Empire right up to the present day. Going beyond the
headlines, he describes in vivid detail a series of key turning
points in Arab history from the mission of the Prophet Muhammad and
the expansion of Islam to the region's interaction with Western
ideas and the rise of Islamism. Now fully updated to cover the
tumultuous years since the Arab Spring, this lucidly told history
reveals how the Arab world came to have its present form and
illuminates the choices that lie ahead.
The collapse of Syria into civil war over the past two years has
spawned a regional crisis whose reverberations grow louder with
each passing month. In this timely account, John McHugo seeks to
contextualize the headlines, providing broad historical perspective
and a richly layered analysis of a country few in the United States
know or understand. McHugo charts the history of Syria from World
War I to the tumultuous present, examining the country's thwarted
attempts at independence, the French policies that sowed the seeds
of internal strife, and the fragility of its foundations as a
nation. He then turns to more recent events: religious and
sectarian tensions that have riven Syria, the pressures of the Cold
War and the Arab-Israeli conflict, and two generations of rule by
the Assads. The result is a fresh and rigorous narrative that
explains both the creation and unraveling of the current regime and
the roots of the broader Middle East conflict. As the Syrian civil
war threatens to draw the U.S. military once again into the Middle
East, here is a rare and authoritative guide to a complex nation
that demands our attention.
The 1,400-year-old schism between Sunnis and Shi'is is currently
reflected in the destructive struggle for hegemony between Saudi
Arabia and Iran-with no apparent end in sight. But how did this
conflict begin, and why is it now the focus of so much attention?
Charting the history of Islam from the death of the Prophet
Muhammad to the present day, John McHugo describes the conflicts
that raged over the succession to the Prophet, how Sunnism and
Shi'ism evolved as different sects during the Abbasid caliphate,
and how the rivalry between the Sunni Ottomans and Shi'i Safavids
ensured that the split would continue into the modern age. In
recent decades, this centuries-old divide has acquired a new
toxicity that has resulted in violence across the Arab world and
other Muslim countries. Definitive, insightful, and accessible, A
Concise History of Sunnis and Shi'is is an essential guide to
understanding the genesis, development, and manipulation of the
schism that for far too many people has come to define Islam and
the Muslim world.
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