Today’s Arab world was created at breathtaking speed. In just over one hundred years following the death of Mohammed in 632, Arabs had subjugated a territory with an east-west expanse greater than the Roman Empire, and they did it in about one-half the time. By the mid-eighth century, Arab armies had conquered the thousand-year-old Persian Empire, reduced the Byzantine Empire to little more than a city-state based around Constantinople, and destroyed the Visigoth kingdom of Spain. The cultural and linguistic effects of this early Islamic expansion reverberate today. This is the first popular English-language account in many years of this astonishing remaking of the political and religious map of the world. Hugh Kennedy’s sweeping narrative reveals how the Arab armies conquered almost everything in their path, and brings to light the unique characteristics of Islamic rule. One of the few academic historians with a genuine talent for story telling, Kennedy offers a compelling mix of larger-than-life characters, fierce battles, and the great clash of civilizations and religions.

◎ 著者简介

休·肯尼迪（1947— ），英国历史学家、学者，毕业于剑桥大学，主要研究领域是伊斯兰教早期的中东、穆斯林西班牙、十字军东征。他在1997—2007年担任圣安德鲁斯大学的中东史教授，2007年之后担任伦敦大学亚非学院的阿拉伯学教授。著有《穆斯林西班牙与葡萄牙》（Muslim Spain and Portugal）、《拜占庭与伊斯兰早期的中东》（The Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East）等书。

◎ 译者简介

孙宇，毕业于河北民族师范学院英语翻译专业。对于中世纪史、晚期古典史和伊斯兰世界古代史有较深兴趣。