Books by Robert Irwin
Robert Irwin was born in 1946. He read history at the University of Oxford and, while still an undergraduate, made regular trips to Sufi centres in Algeria and Paris. His novels include The Arabian Nightmare (1983), The Limits of Vision (1986), The Mysteries of Algiers (1988), Exquisite Corpse (1995) Prayer-Cushions of the Flesh (1997) and Satan Wants Me (1999). His many works of non-fiction include The Arabian Nights: A Companion (1994), For Lust of Knowing: The Orientalists and Their Enemies (2006), the editing and introducing of The New Cambridge History of Islam volume 4, Islamic Cultures and Societies to the End of the Eighteenth Century, both published in 2010, and Memoirs of a Dervish (2011). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, of the London Institute of ’Pataphysics, of the Royal Asiatic Society and of the Society of Antiquaries, as well as a consulting editor at the Times Literary Supplement and a Senior Research Associate of the Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures Department of the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University. He received a D.Litt Honoris Causa from SOAS in 2016. A seventh novel, Wonders Will Never Cease, appeared in 2016, and Ibn Khaldun: An Intellectual Biography, in 2018.
“You could sit down and try to read the Muqaddimah, his famous treatise of historical sociology. But I think it’s much better to start with this great biography by Robert Irwin, which tells the story of Khaldun as a person. You read how he was a famous juror in southern Spain and in North Africa, how his family were killed in a terrible shipwreck, how in the siege of Damascus, he was lowered in a basket outside the city walls to go and speak to the great conqueror, Tamerlane, who wanted to know about his theories of history.” Read more...
The best books on The Lessons of History
Roman Krznaric, Philosopher
Interviews with Robert Irwin
Classics of Arabic Literature, recommended by Robert Irwin
From the Life and Works of Jahiz, who lived in the 9th century, to a modern Sudanese masterpiece, the distinguished Arabist, novelist and historian Robert Irwin selects five classics of Arabic literature.
Interviews where books by Robert Irwin were recommended
The best books on The Lessons of History, recommended by Roman Krznaric
History is too complex to be an easy guide for navigating the present, but that doesn’t mean the experience of those who came before can’t shed valuable insights into our current dilemmas. In his latest book, History for Tomorrow, social philosopher Roman Krznaric looks at ten crises currently facing the world and how lessons from the past might be able to help.
