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Library | Item Barcode | Call Number | Material Type | Item Category 1 | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... | 30000010207885 | DS36.85 M75 2007 | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
Searching... | 30000010088650 | DS36.85 .M75 2007 | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
Searching... | 30000010088649 | DS36.85 .M75 2007 | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
Searching... | 30000010088651 | DS36.85 .M75 2007 | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
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Summary
Summary
In an era when the relationship between Islam and the West seems mainly defined by mistrust and misunderstanding, we often forget that for centuries Muslim civilization was the envy of the world. Essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the major role played by the early Muslim world in influencing modern society, Lost History fills an important void. Written by an award-winning author and former diplomat with extensive experience in the Muslim world, it provides new insight not only into Islam's historic achievements but also the ancient resentments that fuel today's bitter conflicts.
Michael Hamilton Morgan reveals how early Muslim advancements in science and culture lay the cornerstones of the European Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and modern Western society. As he chronicles the Golden Ages of Islam, beginning in 570 a.d. with the birth of Muhammad, and resonating today, he introduces scholars like Ibn Al-Haytham, Ibn Sina, Al-Tusi, Al-Khwarizmi, and Omar Khayyam, towering figures who revolutionized the mathematics, astronomy, and medicine of their time and paved the way for Newton, Copernicus, and many others. And he reminds us that inspired leaders from Muhammad to Suleiman the Magnificent and beyond championed religious tolerance, encouraged intellectual inquiry, and sponsored artistic, architectural, and literary works that still dazzle us with their brilliance. Lost History finally affords pioneering leaders with the proper credit and respect they so richly deserve.
Author Notes
Michael Hamilton Morgan is the author of The Twilight War, and co-author with undersea explorer Robert Ballard of Collision with History: The Search for John F. Kennedy's PT-109, and Graveyards of the Pacific. A former diplomat, he created and now heads New Foundations for Peace, which promotes cross-cultural understanding and leadership among youth. He has appeared on ABC and CBS and as a Washington journalist covered foreign policy issues. From 1990-2000 he directed and advised the International Pegasus Prize for Literature.
Reviews 1
Choice Review
Throughout, this narrative bounces from present to past to present, discussing the rise of Islam as both religion and political ideology. Muslim science, thought, and art coverage is impressionistic. Morgan writes rhapsodically about a symbol for zero, "the source from which all higher mathematics can now spring," but does not indicate how it was introduced. Concerning medicine, he never really explains how one of the truly amazing discoveries, the pulmonary transit of blood, was made by Arab physician Ibn al-Nafis (described as "cardiologist"). In astronomy, Morgan suggests that Copernicus adopted methods of Arabic astronomers such as al-Tusi. However, while the author mentions the famous "Tusi couple" and that it accounted for certain linear motions in terms of circular motions, he does not explain why al-Tusi introduced it or why Copernicus used it. Architecture is concerned with the history of the Dome of the Rock, the Alhambra, the Medina Azahara (now in ruins), and the Taj Mahal, among other structures. A final chapter, "Enlightened Leadership," briefly discusses political figures Abu Bakr, Haroun al-Rashi, Nazim al-Mulk, and Razia Sultana. The book's coverage is episodic and anecdotal, repeating the phrase "lost history" as a litany. The history here is lost only to those unaware of increasingly available literatures of Islamic thought, science, and the arts. Summing Up: Optional. General readers. J. W. Dauben CUNY Herbert H. Lehman College
