This is a truly illuminating survey, written in a lively, forthright style that captures the author's character and perspective without undercutting the book's objective task. (I especially enjoyed Hillenbrand's use of a delightfully broad vocabulary, that kept even this English M.A. thumbing his dictionary!) I disagree with the strictures offered by the earlier reviewer pranogajec, whose expertise (as a historian of architecture) is far greater than mine, but whose expectations may be distorted by that very fact. Naturally a historian of architecture wants more on buildings and less on metalwork, pottery, textiles, book illustrations (those dreaded "minor arts"). But I was grateful for Hillenbrand's catholicity. There are other books on all these subjects, after all, including architecture, and he makes one eager to read them.

At the Mexican university high school where I teach, I am responsible for survey courses in comparative global art history and literary history (as well as philosophy, history, and the social sciences - I'm very much the humanities generalist). In the course covering the period from prehistory through the middle ages, I have about two hours to discuss Islamic subjects - not much! But Hillenbrand's text and illustrations offered me a number of ideas for doing so, building off one of my basic sources, Marilyn Stokstad's two-volume "Art History." ( )

This book covers 1,000 years of history and an area stretching from the Atlantic to the borders of India and China, includes architecture, calligraphy, book illumination, painting, ceramics, textiles, and metalwork.