In The Shadow Of The Sword, Paperback/Tom Holland

A thrilling account of the rise of Islam, from the bestselling author of }Rubicon{ and }Persian Fire{. Today, over half the world's population subscribes to one of the various religions that took on something like their final form during the last centuries of antiquity. Holland explores how a succession of great empires came to identify themselves with a new understanding of the divine. 'A stunning blockbuster' Robert Fisk, }Independent{