The Venture of Islam, Volume 1: The Classical Age of Islam

I bought the 3 volume series of Marshall Hodgson's series on Islamic History after having heard about it in a conference. I count myself lucky that i have it with me. This series is a real gem, a scholarly work which deserves its place among the best of Islamic history books there are. Hodgson did not let his own bias filter through in these books and the result is a very objective and masterly look at Islamic history or 'Islamdom" as Marshall calls it. Definitely worth having this series on your shelves. Sohail Abbas [email protected]

I originally read volume 1 and 2 for an upper division history course in university and the effect these books had on me is profound. This is THE survey book on Islamic civilization and history. There are several other worthwhile survey books on the topic (especially Lapidus), but this is the master work in the field. This is where you should start. It is sad, but true to say that the 3rd volume is not as good as the first two volumes. This is due to the fact that Hodgson passed away before he could finish it, and it was completed by his friends in the academic community. That being said, Volumes 1 and 2 are masterpeices! Everything you ever wanted to know about Islmaic history is here in as much detail as can possibly be done in a survey work. If you want more detail, you should read books that delve into specific topics in more detail (i.e. The Assassins, the Abbasid Caliphate, Pax-Mongolia, The Saljuks, The Gunpowder Empires, Adib court culture, etc.), but for an all-emcompassing work on Islamic history, culture, and society, from pre-Islamic pegan times in the Arabian peninsula all the way to the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1921, Volumes 1 and 2 are THE MUST HAVE books on the subject. No library on Islamic History is complete without these two. Hodgson himself has become a psudo-legend in academic circles because of this work. His obsession with detail, exhibited in this work, reminds me of J. R. R. Tolkin and his imagined "Lord of the Rings" histories except that Hodgson's work is the real thing! Venture of Islam has influenced writers outside Academic circles such has Frank Herbert's Science Fiction masterpeice "Dune." Herbert fans will recongize this as soon they look at the table of contents for The Venture of Islam For those interested in reading more about Hodgeson himself, I highly recommend an essay written by Edmund Burke III which analyzes his academic works and how his life as a Quaker influecned his skills and style as a historian and a writer. One cautionary note: This is not light reading. This work is indended for historians, or at the very least serious history students. Those seeking a casual "glossing over" of Islamic history should look elsewhere.

Marshall Hodgson, a professor at the University of Chicago, was a major 20th century scholar of Islam. His three volume history of Islamic civilization was published posthumously by the U of C Press. But, even before it came out in book form, xeroxed copies were being used as textbooks in the school's courses in Islamic Civ. That's where I first encountered it (and struggled through it) many years ago. As other reviewers have pointed out, Hodgson is not always an easy read. His style is dense and ponderous. Nontheless, Hodgson's work was a milestone in Western scholarship about Islam and its history. He provides a wealth of information and a thorough, coherent account of the development of Islamic civilization. Unlike many books, Hodgson pays attention not just to political entities and dynasties, but also to the intellectual and artistic achievements of the societies. Islam and things Islamic have been sorely neglected in most people's education. Even in our current post-9/11 climate, what most people know about Islam doesn't extend much beyond stereotypical (and largely inaccurate) ideas about jihad. If they're really sophisticated, they may know a little about Sufism and the mystical poetry of Rumi. But there is so much more to Islam and to Islamic civilization (if in fact one can even talk about a single Islamic civilazation). Whatever this books flaws, one could do far worse to start one's education here.I kept my xeroxed for many years after I finished my coursework. But I finally lost them, and now I'm replacing them with the real books.

Marshall Hodgson's work is not necessarily for beginners. Rather than recount a straightforward narrative, he lays out a theoretical framework based on environmental zones and economic factors. In terms of the history of orientalism, this was a major contribution in that is posited a basis for Islamic history other than religion.Of the three volumes, Volume III is largely out-dated, while Volume II has held up the best since the work's publication. Perhaps the most serious problem is that Hodgson doesn't pay much attention to the development of Islamic societies in Southeast Asia and Africa, though he does include India, a major step for the 1970's. His chapters on Sufism and literary culture are among the work's strengths.Those interested in a serious understanding of the Islamic world will work through Hodgson at one time or another. Those wishing for a strong, more casual introduction are better off with something like Ira Lapidus's A History of Islamic Societies or The Oxford History of Islam.