the year 945.
W. Montgomery Watt’s The Formative Period of Islamic
Thought (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1973)
examines developments within Islam from the khariji
Rejectionists to the establishment of Sunnism.
Shia Islam
S. H. M. Jafri’s The Origins and Early Development of Shi’a
Islam (London: Longman, 1979) provides a detailed and
deeply sympathetic examination of Shia history and
theology from the time of Muhammad through to the
twelve Imams.
Vali Nasr’s The Shia Revival: How Conɻicts Within
Islam Will Shape the Future (New York: Norton, 2006) is
an excellent and highly readable overview of the Shia-
Sunni conɻict in the twentieth century and into the
twenty-first.
Moojan Momen’s An Introduction to Shi’i Islam: The
History and Doctrines of Twelver Shi’ism (New Haven:
Yale University Press, 1985) is far more detailed than
one might expect an “introduction” to be, and is
especially good on Shia theology.
The Iranian Revolution
Anthropologist Michael M. Fischer’s work, in particular
Iran: From Religious Dispute to Re Volution (Cambridge: