This Book Will Be Immensely Helpful to Those Who Wish to Orient Themselves to What Has Become a Very Large Body of Literature on Medieval Islamic History. Combining a Bibliographic Study With an Inquiry Into Method, It Opens With a Survey of the Principal Reference Tools Available to Historians of Islam and a Systematic Review of the Sources They Will Confront. Problems of Method Are Then Examined in a Series of Chapters, Each Exploring a Broad Topic in the Social and Political History of the Middle East and North Africa Between A.D. 600 and 1500.