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A gorgeous new rendering of a thought-provoking reexamination of history
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
Centuries before Samarkand’s stately mosques, mausoleums and madrassas (Islamic schools) were built, a trading hub arose on what became known as the Silk Road. The site of the first ancient settlement
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
The ‘gateway to the West’ has for years become a relative sanctuary from the onslaught on Ukraine’s frontline. But the city and region’s long history has seen it at the centre of countless conquests
Michael D. C. Drout The Tower and the Ruin J. R. R. Tolkien’s creation 384pp. Norton. £25. Giuseppe Pezzini Tolkien and the Mystery of Literary Creation 456pp. Cambridge University Press. £30. Michael
Melanie McDonagh Converts From Oscar Wilde to Muriel Spark, why so many became Catholic in the 20th century 368pp. Yale University Press. £25 (US $38). Nobody likes a convert. For believers, the word