A collection of essays focusing on the relation between European and Islamic thought and culture from the late eighteenth century to the twentieth century. It explores the development of ideas about Islam in European thought and discusses the writers who played a part in informing and communicating an image of Islamic history and civilisation.



This collection of essays focuses on the relation between European and Islamic thought and culture from the late eighteenth to the twentieth century. Albert Hourani explores the development of ideas about Islam in European thought and discusses the individual writers who played an important part in informing and communicating an image of Islamic history and civilisation. He also examines some of the reactions of the Islamic world to the powerful new ideas of European civilization including the first Arabic encyclopedia and translation of Homer.