A History of Islamic Societies

The best book I have ever read on Islamic history / sociology. This book is extremely comprehensive and a dense read, but I highly recommend it to anybody interested in Islam and/or its history. This book covers every region and time period, even the pre-Islamic world. I found it extremely insightful with the latest research. I also liked that it has many other contributors other than Dr Lapidus of Berkeley. This book is truly a magnum opus that will last for times to come.

Great book & quality

Ira M. Lapidus claims to be a scholar of Islam and Muslim societies, but I found his book to be lacking. The most glaring flaw of this book is that his account of the early Islamic period is simply highly incorrect and erroneous. If you want to read books on Islamic history, I humbly suggest that the student look elsewhere.

Excellent!

The book is a towering accomplishment, synthesizing vast amounts of scholarship and compressing it into generalizations without oversimplification. Readers who have done some prior reading on the history of the Islamic civilization will find a treasure trove of insight here, particularly on the socio-economic history. At the same time, a complete novice to the subject is likely to find it somewhat disorienting and overwhelming, due to its broad sweep and density of information. Hourani's History of the Arab Peoples would make a better introductory text. His synthesis is more lively and streamlined, while still reflecting a comparable scholarly authority and providing much of the same kind of insight. Since Hourani's book doesn't cover the lands to the east of Iraq, it should be complemented by other texts to get a more rounded picture, but if you want to dig deeper after reading it, you may be ready for Lapidus.

Boring.

Very informative book!

Le livre est bien, dommage qu’il soit arrivé abîmé.

Brilliant!

Nice book . U get an entire history of Islamic societies at one place.