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John Tolan Islam A new history from Muhammad to the present 304pp. Princeton University Press. £25 (US $29.95). James McDougall Worlds of Islam A global history 608pp. Allen Lane. £40. Elizabeth Drays
FROM A CONVERTED BANK WITH A SPA IN ITS VAULT TO A NILE CRUISE THAT ESCHEWS THE CROWDS, THIS IS TRAVEL, ELEGANTLY DONE
Fyodor Uspensky History of the Byzantine Empire Translated and edited by Dean Marais Five volumes; 1,852pp. Based. Paperback, £92.05. James Howard-Johnston Byzantium Economy, society, institutions 600
Europe’s frozen northeast became a new sacred frontier of holy war, forced conversion and occupation against Europe’s last pagans
After spending two months bubling around southern Spain, you join the ride at Valor, in the Sierra Nevada mountains of Andalusia. We were contemplating our return route north to Santander and the ferr
The fall of the Aztec empire in the early 16th century appears to have been one of history’s clearest before-and-after moments. According to the myth, a handful of Spanish conquistadors quickly crushe