Destiny Disrupted - by Tamim Ansary (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"A must read for anyone who wants to learn more about the history of the Islamic world" (San Francisco Chronicle)

We in the West share a common narrative of world history. But our story largely omits a whole civilization whose citizens shared an entirely different narrative for a thousand years as the Islamic world saw it, from the time of Mohammed through the fall of the Ottoman Empire to the events of 9/11 and beyond.

In Destiny Disrupted, Tamim Ansary tells the rich story of world history as the Islamic world saw it. He clarifies why our civilizations grew up oblivious to each other, what happened when they intersected, and how the Islamic world was affected by its slow recognition that Europe--a place it long perceived as primitive and disorganized--had somehow hijacked destiny.

With sympathy to Muslim and Western perspectives alike, Destiny Disrupted offers a fresh and vital perspective on world conflicts we thought we understood.

Review Quotes

"A lively, thorough and accessible survey of the history of Islam (both the religion and its political dimension) that explores many of the disconnects between Islam and the West."
--Shelf Awareness

"A must-read for anyone who wants to learn more about the history of the Islamic world. But the book is more than just a litany of past events. It is also an indispensable guide to understanding the political debates and conflicts of today, from 9/11 to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, from the Somali pirates to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. As Ansary writes in his conclusion, "The conflict wracking the modern world is not, I think, best understood as a 'clash of civilizations.' ... It's better understood as the friction generated by two mismatched world histories intersecting."
--San Francisco Chronicle

"Ansary has written an informative and thoroughly engaging look at the past, present and future of Islam. With his seamless and charming prose, he challenges conventional wisdom and appeals for a fuller understanding of how Islam and the world at large have shaped each other. And that makes this book, in this uneasy, contentious post 9/11 world, a must-read."

--Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns

"I'm in the middle of Tamim Ansary's Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World through Islamic Eyes, and it's incredibly illuminating. Ansary pretty much covers the entire history of Islam in an incredibly readable and lucid way. I've been recommending this book to everyone I know. Especially when people are looking for a comprehensive-but-approachable way to look at world history through the lens of Islam, there's no better book."--Dave Eggers, TheRumpus.net

About the Author

Tamim Ansary is the author of four books, including The Invention of Yesterday. For ten years, he wrote a monthly column for Encarta.com, and he has published essays and commentary in the San Francisco Chronicle, Salon, Los Angeles Times, and more. Born in Afghanistan in 1948, he moved to the United States in 1964. He lives in San Francisco.