Worlds of Islam

Masterful ... eclectic and unpredictable, guaranteed to open the eyes and minds of the general reader no less than scholars of the world’s second-largest faith. McDougall quietly demolishes the post-9/11 consensus that concepts such as jihad were totems of Islam’s otherness [and] convincingly shows [that] the history of Islam requires the upending of many of the things we think we know about the world

New Statesman

stunningly ambitious and authoritative ... paints a compelling picture of change, adaptation, and growth in Islam from its origins over a thousand years ago to its myriad expressions in today’s digital age. McDougall ... wears his erudition lightly, deftly linking debates across time and space [into] a profoundly nuanced picture of Islam, its faithful, and their communities

Foreign Affairs

A truly global work of history ... Rather than denial or avoidance, [McDougall] reaches for the historian’s tools of contextualization and comparison ... his approach is constantly analytical, questioning what facts signify

Times Literary Supplement

An elegant, erudite guide ... It is impossible to sum up the skilful manner in which the author navigates his way around 1,500 years of history across such a wide geographical expanse – the historical vignettes are extremely diverse, giving greater evidence from parts of the Islamic world the West talks less about than the Middle East

Arab Weekly