By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on March 20, 2016
Tom Holland’s In the Shadow of the Sword: The Battle for Global Empire and the End of the Ancient World (2012) is a smooth read, a feat hardly foreordained in a book that exceeds 500 pages in length. Holland writes narratively, giving his interpretation of the most likely scenario of Islam’s origins—and then presents the extended evidence and debates in endnotes for those who wish to dig into the weeds. This has gotten him into trouble among haughtier reviewers for writing “pop history”, which appears to mean an exploration of the past that there is a danger people will want to read.
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