Description: In this magisterial cultural and intellectual history, Thomas Bauer reconsiders classical and modern Islam by tracing differing attitudes toward ambiguity. Over a span of many centuries, he explores the tension between one strand that aspires to annihilate all uncertainties and a competing tendency that looks for ways to live with complexity.
Review Quotes: Thomas Bauer takes his audience on a delightfully opinionated and provocative journey through premodern Islamic cultural and intellectual history. His apt use of the theoretical lens of ambiguity will make readers look at both premodern and modern Islamic cultures--and beyond them at all cultural expressions--with new eyes.--Ahmed El Shamsy, author of Rediscovering the Islamic Classics: How Editors and Print Culture Transformed an Intellectual Tradition