The Byzantine And Early Islamic Near East

The 14 papers, first published between 1980 and 2004, address three themes. The first is the transition from Late Antiquity to Islam in the cities and countryside of Syria--the Arabic Bilad al-Sham, which includes modern Lebanon, Palestine/Israel, and part of southern Turkey as well as modern Syria. The second is relations between the Muslim and Byzantine worlds in the first centuries after the Islamic conquest of the Middle East. The third is the development of administrative systems of the Islamic state, particularly the interaction of economic and fiscal policies with political structures. Annotation 穢2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)