Review by New York Times Review
LATE-LIFE LOVE: A Memoir, by Susan Gubar. (Norton, $25.95.) The influential literary critic blends tales of her marriage, her cancer treatments and her husband's age-related infirmities with discussions of works whose meaning has changed for her over time; her rereadings confirm her talents as a teacher. MORTAL REPUBLIC: How Rome Fell Into Tyranny, by Edward J. Watts. (Basic, $32.) By the second century B.C., the proud Roman Republic had been brought low by inequity, corruption and populist politicians. Since America's founders modeled it on the Roman example, Watts, a historian, warns that it behooves us to understand what went wrong over 2,000 years ago. MUHAMMAD: Prophet of Peace Amid the Clash of Empires, by Juan Cole. (Nation, $28.) Cole offers an ambitiously revisionist picture of the father of Islam, replacing the idea of a militant leader with one of a peacemaker who wanted only to preach his monotheism freely and even sought "multicultural" harmony. INSURRECTO, by Gina Apostol. (Soho, $26.) Set in the Philippines, this novel raises provocative questions about history and hypocrisy as it follows two women with dueling modern-day film scripts about a colonial-era massacre. MY BROTHER'S HUSBAND: Volume 2, by Gengoroh Tagamé. Translated by Anne Ishii. (Pantheon, $25.95.) A sweet satire of Japan's taboo against gay marriage, this manga-style graphic novel is a sophisticated investigation into the nature of love, marriage, divorce, bereavement and nontraditional child-rearing. IN OUR MAD AND FURIOUS CITY, by Guy Gunaratne. (MCD/Farrar, Straus & Giroux, paper, $16.) Gunaratne's striking, Bookerlonglisted debut unfolds over a few restless days in a workingclass Northwest London suburb. Despite the rush of drama indicated by its title, the book should be read for its quieter details - Gunaratne, with a gift for characterization, presents the kinds of Londoners not often seen in contemporary fiction. THE DAY THE SUN DIED, by Yan Lianke. Translated by Carlos Rojas. (Grove, $26.) This brutal satirical novel takes place on a single night, when a plague of somnambulism unleashes a host of suppressed emotions among the inhabitants of a Chinese village. The ensuing chaos is promptly struck from the official record. TELL THEM OF BATTLES, KINGS, AND ELEPHANTS, by Mathias Énard. Translated by Charlotte Mandel. (New Directions, paper, $19.95.) In this intoxicating novel, set in 1506, Michelangelo sets up shop in Constantinople to design a bridge connecting Europe and Asia. SLEEP OF MEMORY, by Patrick Modiano. Translated by Mark Polizzotti. (Yale, $24.) The Nobel laureate's dreamlike novels summon elusive, half-forgotten episodes. Here, that means Paris in the '60s, love affairs, a flirtation with the occult and a shocking crime. The full reviews of these and other recent books are on the web: nytimes.com/books
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [January 31, 2019]
Review by Booklist Review
The modern narrative of early Muslim history has traditionally been constructed from Muslim sources from the Abbasid historians (about 200 years after the Prophet's death, and after the era of the Rightful Caliphs and the Umayyad era). This work tries to draw connections from sociopolitical conditions prior to Muhammad's birth and those during his lifetime and beyond. The seven chapters are chronologically arranged and draw heavily from the Koran and oral history. They relate major episodes from Muhammad's life and root them in the environment of the time. The historical sources, by themselves, don't provide a complete narrative, and some interpretations (required for any historical analysis) are woven together to form a coherent narrative. Although this approach to historical analysis is relatively recent, and some may disagree with the interpretations here, the ideas presented deserve consideration. This book will be of interest to those studying early Muslim history and to those who want to use this as an illustrative example of the methodology used.--Muhammed Hassanali Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
Given that so many books have been written about the prophet Muhammad and early Islam, one might wonder if a new account could provide any fresh insights. Cole (history, Univ. of Michigan; Engaging the Muslim World) does just that by focusing on the key but underemphasized theme of peacemaking that runs throughout the Qur'an and in light of its historical context, providing a unique perspective on the prophet and the emergence of Islam during his lifetime. He views Muhammad as a prophet whose ideas were in conflict with those living around him, but who sought to share his message and gain followers in a peaceful manner. His approach was inclusive, seeking to establish relationships with others, particularly Christian and Jews. Only in the latter years as a prophet did he begin, out of self-defense, to engage in battle, and even then, it was from a "Just War" perspective. VERDICT Will be useful to readers interested in early Islam while offering a valuable contribution to scholarly literature.-John Jaeger, Johnson Univ., Knoxville, TN © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A history of Muhammad's life and the beginnings of Islam through the lens of peace.Throughout, Cole (History/Univ. of Michigan; The New Arabs: How the Millennial Generation is Changing the Middle East, 2014, etc.) asserts that the fledgling religion was guided by a philosophy of peace, resorting to violence only for self-defense. The author begins by setting the tale of Islam in the midst of "an unprecedentedly savage world war" during the early seventh century, principally between the eastern Roman Empire and Sasanian Iran. This backdrop of conflict between empires and civilizations informs much of the story behind Islam's beginnings. Indeed, Cole sees Islam as having grown out of an international background, assumingsometimes perhaps too mucha familiarity and interplay between far-flung cultures, religions, and philosophies. The author portrays Muhammad as a cosmopolitan who traveled widely and absorbed ideas from a range of cultures. As Cole traces Muhammad's story from Mecca to Medina and beyond, he paints the picture of a humble spiritual leader who was committed to ecumenical dialogue, the peaceful resolution of all conflicts, and the fair treatment of even his most bitter enemies. "Muhammad's religion," writes the author, "was triumphant but not vindictive." Cole views Muhammad's return to Mecca, often referred to by others as a conquest, as nonviolent in character. The author admits that a culture of violence arose after Muhammad's death, but he only touches on how the Quran, which he reads as a book of peace and tolerance, could have been so misinterpreted by later believers. The concept of "jihad," for instance, so charged in modernity, receives little more than one paragraph of treatment. The book is intelligently, if somewhat tediously, written and will require a strong knowledge of Islam and ancient Near Eastern history. The author helpfully includes an appendix, "Qur'an Verses on Peace Relevant to this Book."An intriguing yet incomplete portrait of Muhammad. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
