In this concise history of the Muslim countries [which begins with Rome and Persia and the pre-Islamic Bedouins and] ends with the fall of Bagdad to the Mongols (1258), in the West with that of Granada to the Christians (1492), Spuler has provided the educated reader with a reliable presentation. The author has succeeded in unraveling the many motivations and influences that went into the making of Islamic history and in lucidly expounding and evaluating them. A highly important feature of the book are the six maps that combine, most happily, political with religious and economic information . . . a well-planned volume.