Today's Arab world was created at breathtaking speed. Whereas the Roman Empire took over 200 years to reach its fullest extent, the Arab armies overran the whole Middle East, North Africa and Spain within a generation. They annhilated the thousand-year-old Persian Empire and reduced the Byzantine Empire to little more than a city-state based around Constantinople. Within a hundred years of the Prophet's death, Muslim armies destroyed the Visigoth kingdom of Spain, and crossed the Pyrenees to occupy southern France. This is the first popular English language account of this astonishing remaking of the political and religious map of the world. Hugh Kennedy's sweeping narrative reveals how the arab armies conquered almost everything in their path. One of the few academic historians with a genuine talent for story telling, he offers a compelling mix of larger-than-life characters, battles, treachery and the clash of civilizations.

◎ 著者简介

休·肯尼迪（1947— ），英国历史学家、学者，毕业于剑桥大学，主要研究领域是伊斯兰教早期的中东、穆斯林西班牙、十字军东征。他在1997—2007年担任圣安德鲁斯大学的中东史教授，2007年之后担任伦敦大学亚非学院的阿拉伯学教授。著有《穆斯林西班牙与葡萄牙》（Muslim Spain and Portugal）、《拜占庭与伊斯兰早期的中东》（The Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East）等书。

◎ 译者简介

孙宇，毕业于河北民族师范学院英语翻译专业。对于中世纪史、晚期古典史和伊斯兰世界古代史有较深兴趣。