The history of the African and Middle Eastern world is, to a large extent, the story of a religion-Islam-and how it claimed millions of followers across empires and kingdoms. First proclaimed by the Prophet Muhammad in the seventh century, Islam quickly spread, through trade and conquest, from the Arabian Peninsula to vast sections of Asia and Africa and even to parts of Europe. The cast of characters in this story is fascinating: from the Prophet himself to Abu Bakr Muhammad ar-Razi, a Persian physician who compiled a multivolume medical encyclopedia; Mehmed II, an Ottomon sultan who...

An Age of Science and Revolutions, 1600-1800, tells the colorful story of a pivotal period in human history, an era that is crucial to understanding our own times. The expansion of trade and city life, the spread and reform of religious institutions, the rise of regional empires and local feudal regimes, and revolutionary advances in science and technology laid the foundation for the modern world. Told through the words and experiences of the people who lived it- kings, queens, and commoners, priests and lay people, explorers, scientists, artists, and world travelers- this is a...

The Age of Empires includes some of the most colorful, ruthless, and restless figures in all of history. During this time Genghis Khan told his troops to "fall upon the enemy like falcons," Ivan the Terrible expelled Mongol invaders from Russia but murdered his own son in a fit of rage, and Babur the Tiger ruled India, combining ferocity on the battlefield with a love of books and poetry. It is a period of extremes: Muslim Turks tolerated Jews and Christians within the Ottoman Empire yet under the Habsburgs the devastating Thirty Years' War pitted Catholics against Protestants....