I have great respect for Holland and for his work. But the title of In the Shadow of the Sword, which contrasts so sharply with the neutral titles of his earlier books, conjures up all the demons of colonial orientalism. It is revisionist ideology masquerading as popular history. When you stop being dazzled by the scope and style of the book, you realise that most of Holland’s arguments crumble like dust at the merest hint of scrutiny.... I find Holland’s total dismissal of Muslim scholarship arrogant (which I know he is not), insulting (which I know he does not mean to be) and based on spurious scholarship (though his scholarship is usually sound). His message is tailor-made for a time when Isla­mophobia is a global fashion, and everything that is labelled “Islamic” or “Muslim” is looked upon with suspicion.

Over the past century, the Muslim tradition has been challenged by many academics and it has proven remarkably resilient in its own defence.... The Muslim narrative is biased towards its particular version of history but few scholars today would claim it was entirely fabricated. Holland would have done better to adopt a cautious and sensitive approach to the Arabic sources, rather than abandoning them in favour of a sensational rewriting of history. Ultimately, Holland’s work is another selective recollection of the past, carefully constructed according to his own revisionist agenda.

Holland tells a complex story, dotted with names and places leagues beyond the realm of popular recognition. Yet he makes it unmistakably his own. He is one of the most distinctive prose stylists writing history today, and he drags his tale by the ears, conjuring the half-vanished past with such gusto that characters and places fairly bound from the page.... In the Shadow of the Sword may reach provocative conclusions, but it is also a work of impressive sensitivity and scholarship.

This is a handsome volume, tackling an important question from a novel perspective, backed by useful notes and written in an accessible and fluid style. But, as I am sure Holland would accept, in part because of the charged nature of the material and issues on which it dwells, and in part because of the vast developments and arenas it attempts to encompass, it is also bound to encounter the full spectrum of critical reaction.

Elegant study of the roiling era of internecine religious rivalry and epic strife that saw the nation of Islam rise and conquer.... Smoothly composed history and fine scholarship.

This is a book of extraordinary richness. I found myself amused, diverted and enchanted by turn.... Holland keeps rigidly to the deconstructionist interpretation, indeed pushes out the boundaries with some rather wild suggestions.... I was intrigued to read these suggestions, but ultimately unconvinced.... Even with these slight flaws In the Shadow of the Sword remains a spell-bindingly brilliant multiple portrait of the triumph of monotheism in the ancient world.

Holland's ancient history culminates in the description of the last great conflict between Rome and Persia in the early part of the 7th century. Only then does he return to his ostensible primary subject: "the birth of Islam," which occurred shortly after this Roman-Persian conflict, and led very quickly to the establishment of the first great Muslim empire, "the global Arab Empire" of his subtitle.... Holland's account of pre-Muslim history is elegantly told, as one would expect from this distinguished classical historian. It will offer much pleasure and profit to the reader.