{"product_id":"ibn-khaldun-an-intellectual-biography-9780691174662","title":"Ibn Khaldun: An Intellectual Biography","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe definitive account of the life and thought of the medieval Arab genius who wrote the \u003ci\u003eMuqaddima\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIbn Khaldun (1332-1406) is generally regarded as the greatest intellectual ever to have appeared in the Arab world--a genius who ranks as one of the world's great minds. Yet the author of the \u003ci\u003eMuqaddima\u003c\/i\u003e, the most important study of history ever produced in the Islamic world, is not as well known as he should be, and his ideas are widely misunderstood. In this groundbreaking intellectual biography, Robert Irwin provides an engaging and authoritative account of Ibn Khaldun's extraordinary life, times, writings, and ideas. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIrwin tells how Ibn Khaldun, who lived in a world decimated by the Black Death, held a long series of posts in the tumultuous Islamic courts of North Africa and Muslim Spain, becoming a major political player as well as a teacher and writer. Closely examining the \u003ci\u003eMuqaddima\u003c\/i\u003e, a startlingly original analysis of the laws of history, and drawing on many other contemporary sources, Irwin shows how Ibn Khaldun's life and thought fit into historical and intellectual context, including medieval Islamic theology, philosophy, politics, literature, economics, law, and tribal life. Because Ibn Khaldun's ideas often seem to anticipate by centuries developments in many fields, he has often been depicted as more of a modern man than a medieval one, and Irwin's account of such misreadings provides new insights about the history of Orientalism. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn contrast, Irwin presents an Ibn Khaldun who was a creature of his time--a devout Sufi mystic who was obsessed with the occult and futurology and who lived in an often-strange world quite different from our own.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRobert Irwin\u003c\/b\u003e is senior research associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London and a former lecturer at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. His many books include \u003ci\u003eDangerous Knowledge: Orientalism and Its Discontents\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eMemoirs of a Dervish: Sufis, Mystics, and the Sixties\u003c\/i\u003e, as well as seven novels. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Princeton University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50327245750546,"sku":"9780691174662","price":32.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_66ab2a01-84e1-4b84-beb7-c14ac5c9e6f7.jpg?v=1727711759","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/ibn-khaldun-an-intellectual-biography-9780691174662","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}