A Political History
by Laurence Louër
Recommended by Tyler Cowen
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Recommended by 2 sources and appears in Most Recommended Books, History, and Nonfiction.
A compelling history of the ancient schism that continues to divide the Islamic worldWhen Muhammad died in 632 without a male heir, Sunnis contended that the choice of a successor should fall to his closest companions, but Shi'a believed that God had inspired the Prophet to appoint his cousin and soninlaw, Ali, as leader. So began a schism that i...
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Why recommended
Recommended by 2 sources and appears in Most Recommended Books, History, and Nonfiction.
People and public figures who have recommended this book.
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Tyler Cowen
“Captures the complexities, and in fact pulls the reader away from the usual tired dichotomy.”
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Consider Accidental Presidents by Jared Cohen. Recommended by 10 sources.
“Accidental Presidents offers eight narrative portraits of men who succeeded to the U.S. presidency without election, using anecdote-rich scenes and readable context to show how personality and circumstance interact with office power. It’s strongest as a set of self-contained stories that make succession stakes concrete for non-specialist readers; it does not prioritize dense archival argument or exhaustive methodology, so expect some interpretive generalizations and repeated themes across cases. Use it for fast historical orientation rather than scholarly deep-dives.”
Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.