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Start giftingThe Islamic Enlightenment
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Learn moreThis absorbing account of the political and social reformations that transformed the lands of Islam during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries offers a game-changing assessment of the Middle East. Beginning his account in 1798, de Bellaigue demonstrates how the Middle East has long welcomed modern ideals and practices, including the adoption of modern medicine, the emergence of women from seclusion, and the development of democracy. With trenchant political and historical insight, de Bellaigue further shows how the violence of an infinitesimally small minority is in fact the tragic blowback from that modernization. This revolutionary argument, which completely refutes the misconception that Muslims live in a benighted state of backwardness, reveals the folly of Westerners demanding modernity from their Islamic neighbors.
Christopher de Bellaigue has worked as a journalist in south Asia and the Middle East, writing for the Economist, the Guardian, and the New York Review of Books. He is the award-winning author of four books, has made several BBC television and radio documentaries, and has been a visiting fellow at the universities of Harvard and Oxford. He lives in London.
Charles Armstrong trained at the Drama Studio. His theatre work includes Stop Messing About (Leicester Square Theatre) and Round the Horne Revisited (West End and Tour). He has also worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company, National, and many repertory theaters. His work on film and TV includes Scoop, EastEnders, Poirot, Head Over Heels, and The Navigators. He has recorded numerous voiceovers, documentaries, radio dramas, and audiobooks.