About: The New Cambridge History of Islam

The New Cambridge History of Islam is a six volume history of Islam published by Cambridge University Press in 2010. The general editor is Michael Cook. The history replaced the original Cambridge History of Islam which was published in 1970. As well as being greatly expanded from the earlier history, which was of two volumes, the new history introduces more thematic sections and covers wider ground by, for instance, a detailed examination of Sufism. It also cautiously questions the narrative of the history of Islam believed by Muslims which it finds lacks reliable textual evidence for the earliest period.