Attempts to explain the bewildering events in the Middle East.

This book argues that ever since Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979, which established a Shia Islamic government in Iran, that country’s religious and politi

A compelling history of the ancient schism that continues to divide the Islamic world When Muhammad died in 632 without a male heir, Sunnis contended that the c

Shia Muslims account for between 10 and 15 percent of the world's Muslim population, and while some Americans know that there are two major sects in Islam, Shia

In this gripping narrative history, Lesley Hazleton tells the tragic story at the heart of the ongoing rivalry between the Sunni and Shia branches of Islam, a r