Series: "Introducing Islam"

Carr emphasizes the diversity and geographic spread of Muslim cultures, as well as the different types of governments under which they live. Hodges examines Muslim attitudes on a wide variety of issues, based on a Gallup poll, and includes considerable coverage of home life. Whitehead focuses on the Islamist movement of the past century, the development of Islamist governments, and the differences between Islamists and moderates in such countries as Algeria, Indonesia, and Egypt. All three books provide readers with a much-more nuanced picture than Western news media. While there is no fictionalizing, neither are there any humanizing stories of individual Muslims. The style is quite clear and fairly concise. The color photographs are well chosen, well captioned, and well keyed to the text they illustrate.

--School Library Journal on Who Are the Muslims, What Muslims Think and How They Live, and Islamic Fundamentalism.

The Introducing Islam Series provides an overview of Islam's history, its central tenets, key practices, and its rich culture. . . . The Senior Editor, Dr. Abou El Fadl, is a leading authority in Islamic Law; he is currently a visiting professor at Yale University and a professor at UCLA. There is some overlap of content between the titles as the information regarding the historical development of Islam and the various sects of Islam bears repeating in each title. Each volume can stand alone. The photographs are beautiful. Style and vocabulary add to the ease of readability. Added features of the glossary, web sites, bibliography, and chronology are most appreciated and aid in the comprehension. In our increasing global community, understanding Islam is critical. A must add to the collection.

--The Greater Cincinnati Library Consortium on Islam: The Basics, Islamic Fundamentalism, and Islam, Christianity, Judaism.

Written from points of view interior to Islam and to Muslim experience, this is a world-cultures textbook series addressed to North American students in grades 7 through 12. Each volume is slightly more than 100 pages long with copious, smartly captioned illustrations and an index, glossary and chronology. Together or in combinations to suit a curriculum, this is a solid foundation unit on the faith of Islam and its role in both world history and contemporary United States culture.

--Saudi Aramco World, on the Introducing Islam series.