From the author of Lost Paradise: the Story of Granada, an excellent history from Mecca to Cordoba that takes in Islamic libraries in Spain and Ottoman coffee houses in London.
A fascinating study of the evidence that craftsmen from North Africa, Islamic Spain and Sicily were deeply instrumental in the Romanesque architecture of places such as Durham Cathedral, Mon... read more
How the daughter of Babur, first Mughal Emperor, wrangled her way out of the harem (for a while) to travel around India, to Persia and beyond. Based on her own account.
The C10th synthesis of Greek thought in Central Asi. Starr's magnificent book is a cultural and intellectual history of the Islamic Enlightenment and its two chief proponents - Ibn Sina and ... read more