A History of the Maghrib in the Islamic Period

by Jamil M. Abun-Nasr (Editor)

Building on the two previous editions of his History of the Maghrib, Professor Abun-Nasr has written a completely new history of North Africa within the Islamic period which begins with the Arab conquest and brings the story up to the present day. He emphasises the factors which led to the adoption of Islam by practically the entire population, the geographical position of the area, which made it the main trade link between the Mediterranean world and the Sudan and led to its involvement in the confrontation between the Christian and Islamic worlds. In Morocco, this confrontation led to the emergence of a distinct religio-political community ruled by sharifian dynasties and, in the rest of the Maghrib, to integration in the Ottoman empire. The political and economic developments of the 'piratical' regencies of Algeria, Tunisia and Libya, the establishment of European colonial rule, the nationalist movements and Islamic religious reform are all treated in detail. The balance between factual account and interpretation makes the book especially useful to students of African and Islamic history.

Genres: History, Islam, Africa, Northern Africa, Morocco, Religion, Nonfiction

455 pages, Paperback

First published September 2, 1971

Reviews

[Kenneth Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

The work pictured here seems to be a later item, but I would recommend to students of the Middle East and North Africa that they find "A History of the Maghreb," the 1971 edition (Cambridge), by the same author, which is very useful for checking general trends, verifying dates and the roles of various personalities, and so on. As a reference work, the 1971 item, to my mind, has not been superseded. I consulted this work while writing so many papers (in recent graduate work), writing reviews for academic journals, etc.
If you can find a copy of this work, you will find it very useful.
Good hunting!

[Anubha (BooksFullOfLife, LifeFullOfBooks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delighted to know more about Africa through this work

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent (and really the only English-language) overview of a region whose history is most understandable when approached on a regional basis and over a long period of time - but wow what a slow read! Ibn Khaldun may have been a genius, but his coming up with a pattern of Maghribi dynastic rise and decline is not proof ... someone with an IQ of 70 could come up with one after reading the first half of this book - the dynasties were that similar. Reader needs strong subject interest to finish this book, though it's not the author's fault.