In the wake of the uprisings which rocked the Arab world, Maxime Rodinson's work has taken on a new and powerful resonance. Dating from 1958, the time of his expulsion from the French Communist Party, to 1972, the assembled articles, papers and essays which form this book outline his vision of the role of Marxist politics in Muslim history and society. By applying a materialist approach to Islam, which encompassed its social and economic history rather than simply studying it in terms of belief, Rodinson reclaimed the field of Islamic studies from Orientalism. Rodinson's work was both pioneering and provocative. Today, when an increasingly virulent Islamophobia is taking hold across the West, Rodinson's work provides a vital counterweight to reductionist depictions of Islam and remains just as indispensable to those seeking to understand the Muslim World as it was when it was first published.

In his trademark polemical style, Maxime Rodinson examines the complexities of political Islam and Marxist ideology and their implications for Arab nationalism.

About the Author
Professor Maxime Rodinson was a French historian, sociologist and renowned specialist on Islam and the Arab world. Rodinson was a talented linguist and a committed Marxist, despite his dramatic split from the French Communist Party in 1958. He died in 2004 aged 89.

Reviews
Maxime Rodinson was and remained the most delightful person you could imagine, with a scrupulous honesty that one would like to find in more intellectuals. * Samir Amin, director of Third World Forum and author of Europe and the Arab World *



Book Information
ISBN 9781783603367
Author Maxime Rodinson
Format Paperback
Page Count 248
Imprint Zed Books Ltd
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Weight(grams) 322g