Tom Holland is a historian of the ancient world and a
translator. His books include Rubicon: The Triumph and Tragedy of
the Roman Republic, Persian Fire, In the Shadow of the Sword and
The Forge of Christendom. He has adapted Homer, Herodotus,
Thucydides and Virgil for the BBC. In 2007, he was the winner of
the Classical Association prize, awarded to "the individual who has
done most to promote the study of the language, literature and
civilization of Ancient Greece and Rome." He lives in London with
his family.
Visit the author's website at www.tom-holland.org.
Praise for Tom Holland's In the Shadow of the Sword
"Elegantly written. . . . A veritable tour de force."
--The Wall Street Journal "A brilliant tour de force of
revisionist scholarship and thrilling storytelling with a
bloodspattered cast of swashbuckling tyrants, nymphomaniacal
empresses and visionary prophets. The book is unputdownable. . . .
An important work based on respected scholarship. It takes courage
and intellect to confront such complexity and sensitivity. Written
with flamboyant elegance and energetic intensity."
--The Times (London) "Accessible but delightful . . . as fun
to read as any thriller, and with far richer intellectual
nutritional content. . . . Those unwilling to struggle through
academic texts have long needed a guide to the story of Islam as
it's understood by those with the fullest access to the latest
linguistic and archaeological evidence. Now at last in Tom
Holland's In the Shadow of the Sword, they finally have it.
. . . Holland--author previously of Rubicon and Persian
Fire--is about as exciting a stylist as we have writing history
today."
--The Daily Beast "[Holland's] prose is shot through with
wit and empathy. The result is a portrait of a lost world that is
complex, contradictory and populated by people in thrall to ideas
future generations would dismiss as ridiculous. Much like our own,
in other words."
--Dallas Morning News "[An] elegant study of the roiling era
of internecine religious rivalry and epic strife that saw the
nation of Islam rise and conquer. . . . Holland confronts questions
in the Quranic text head-on, providing a substantive, fluid
exegesis on the original documents. Smoothly composed history and
fine scholarship."
--Kirkus Reviews "Tom Holland is a writer of clarity and
expertise, who talks us through this unfamiliar and crowded
territory with energy and some dry wit. . . . The emergence of
Islam is a notoriously risky subject, so a confident historian who
is able to explain where this great religion came from without
illusion or dissimulation has us greatly in his debt."
--The Spectator (London) "This is a book of extraordinary
richness. I found myself amused, diverted and enchanted by turn.
For Tom Holland has an enviable gift for summoning up the colour,
the individuals and animation of the past, without sacrificing
factual integrity. He writes with a contagious conviction that
history is not only a fascinating tale in itself but is a
well-honed instrument with which we can understand our neighbours
and our own times, maybe even ourselves. He is also a divertingly
inventive writer with a wicked wit--there's something of both
Gibbon and Tom Wolfe in his writing. In the Shadow of the Sword
remains a spell-bindingly brilliant multiple portrait of the
triumph of monotheism in the ancient world."
--The Independent (London) "This is a handsome volume,
tackling an important question from a novel perspective."
--Sunday Telegraph (London) "Holland tells a complex story,
dotted with names and places leagues beyond the realm of popular
recognition. Yet he makes it unmistakably his own. He is one of the
most distinctive prose stylists writing history today, and he drags
his tale by the ears, conjuring the half-vanished past with such
gusto that characters and places fairly bound from the page. In
the Shadow of the Sword may reach provocative conclusions, but
it is also a work of impressive sensitivity and scholarship."
--Telegraph (London) "An exhilarating read because Holland
succeeds in capturing much of the excitement, strangeness and
importance of a long past age. It is difficult not to be
bedazzled."
--Financial Times (London) "An ambitious and important book.
. . . His excellent book will be lauded, as it should be for doing
what the best sort of books can do--examining holy cows."
--The Observer (London)
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