Superbly readable... An exciting story, and Greenblatt tells it with his customary clarity and verve

Superb history ... this concise, learned and fluently written book tells a remarkable story

Dazzling

In this outstandingly constructed assessment of the birth of philosophical modernity, renowned Shakespeare scholar Greenblatt deftly transports reader to the dawn of the Renaissance...Readers from across the humanities will find this enthralling account irresistible

More wonderfully illuminating Renaissance history from a master scholar and historian (starred review)

In this gloriously learned page-turner, both biography and intellectual history, Harvard Shakespearean scholar Greenblatt turns his attention to the front end of the Renaissance as the origin of Western culture's foundation: the free questioning of truth (starred review)

Aslan offers an invaluable introduction to the forces that have shaped Islam [in this] eloquent, erudite paean to Islam in all of its complicated glory

Wise and passionate . . . an incisive, scholarly primer in Muslim history and an engaging personal exploration

Acutely perceptive . . . For many troubled Muslims, this book will feel like a revelation, an opening up of knowledge too long buried

Thoroughly engaging and excellently written . . . While [Aslan] might claim to be a mere scholar of the Islamic Reformation, he is also one of its most articulate advocates

A revelation, an opening up of knowledge too long buried, denied and corrupted by generations of men ... Muslim keepers of the latter will rage against Reza Aslan as his careful scholarship and precise language dismantles their false claims and commands ... Aslan is acutely perceptive

A rather beautiful account of the birth and evolution of Islam ... Lucid and illuminating ... Fascinating

Aslan is an engaging writer, his strength lies ... as an observer of contemporary challenges facing Islam ... Sensitive and generous

Enthralling. A book of tremendous clarity and generosity of spirit