Islam: A Short History

Rating:
Summary: "Concise but thorough history of a challenging subject"
Review: Dr. Watt undoubtedly knows his subject! He writes with a very thorough background of years of extensive study. In this book of just 150 pages, he does a good job of adequately covering a very extensive history of one of the world's great religions.
However, I don't think what the author set out to do can really be adequately accomplished in such a brief book. There are places in which he gives only quick, general mention of the important events in Islamic History. Dr. Watt does the best that a scholar can do with a "short" history of a religion, however, some readers will want more meat.

Rating:
Summary: "Concise but thorough history of a challenging subject"
Review: Dr. Watt undoubtedly knows his subject! He writes with a very thorough background of years of extensive study. In this book of just 150 pages, he does a good job of adequately covering a very extensive history of one of the world's great religions.
However, I don't think what the author set out to do can really be adequately accomplished in such a brief book. There are places in which he gives only quick, general mention of the important events in Islamic History. Dr. Watt does the best that a scholar can do with a "short" history of a religion, however, some readers will want more meat.

Rating:
Summary: topical but ...
Review: Watt describes himself as a "kind of a Muslim" (paraphrase) but he is actually an Anglican priest! He writes a history of Islam in the belief that God(Allah) made Islam triumph. So every now and then rational discourse just vanishes. It is also of the "X in year Y" style. Dull but not without some worthwhile information.