About The Book
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.
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.
Contents:
Volume 1
List of Charts
List of Maps
Marshall Hodgson and The Venture of Islam, by Reuben W. Smith
Publisher’s Note
Introduction to the Study of Islamic Civilization
General Prologue: The Islamic Vision in Religion and in Civilization
Book One: The Islamic Infusion: Genesis of a New Social Order
I. The World before Islam
II. Muhammad’s Challenge, 570-624
III. The Early Muslim State, 625-692
Book Two: The Classical Civilization of the High Caliphate
Prologue to Book Two
I. The Islamic Opposition, 692-750
II. The Absolutism in Flower, 750-813
III. The Shar’i Islamic Vision, c. 750-945
IV. Muslim Personal Piety: Confrontations with History and with Selfhood, c. 750-945
V. Speculation: Falsafah and Kalam, c. 750-945
VI. Adab: The Bloom of Arabic Literary Culture, c. 813-945
VII. The Dissipation of the Absolutist Tradition, 813-945
A Selective Bibliography for Further Reading
Glossary of Selected Terms and Names
Index to Volume I
About The Author
