In the Shadow of the Sword

The Battle for Global Empire and the End of the Ancient World

By: Tom Holland

Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble

In the 6th century AD, the Near East was divided between two venerable empires: the Persian and the Roman. A hundred years on and one had vanished forever, while the other seemed almost finished. Ruling in their place were the Arabs: an upheaval so profound that it spelt, in effect, the end of the ancient world. In The Shadow of the Sword, Tom Holland explores how this came about. Spanning from Constantinople to the Arabian desert, and starring some of the most remarkable rulers who ever lived, he tells a story vivid with drama, horror, and startling achievement.

©2012 Tom Holland (P)2012 Hachette Digital

Critic reviews

Holland's new book traces the process by which the world of the first millennium came to be dominated by one God, three religions and an innumerable succession of emperors (Dan Jones)

It is difficult not to be bedazzled by a cast that includes ulcerated Christian holy men, Zoroastrian priests obsessed with dental hygiene, demonic emperors, barbarians with self-inflicted cranial deformities and Arab ambassadors stinking of camel (Richard Miles)

Holland is a restless wanderer across the ancient world, both geographically and intellectually... A dazzling range of characters... Holland is a skilful and energetic narrator, and while he guides us along the more intricate twists and turns of the period, he also keeps our eyes on the bigger story (Anthony Sattin)

Holland leaves almost no aspect of the traditional story of Islam intact as he charts its rise to global power from the ashes of the Roman and Persian empires (Bryan Appleyard)

A work of history, trying to tell the truth, as modern historians understand that fraught concept... A gripping, colourful book (Charles Moore)

A handsome volume, tackling an important question from a novel perspective, backed by useful notes and written in an accessible and fluid style (Michael Scott)

A brave and valuable attempt to train the lens of popular history upon an exceptionally contentious field of study... elegant and entertaining... In the Shadow of the Sword stands as a useful, and sometimes provocative, starting point for anyone interested in approaching the birth of Islam from a historical, rather than devotional, perspective (Thomas Ashbridge)

Elegantly written and refreshingly free from specialist jargon... marshalling its resources with dexterity, it is a veritable tour de force (Malise Ruthven)

Those unwilling to struggle through academic texts have long needed a guide to the story of Islam as it's understood by those with the fullest access to the latest linguistic and archaeological evidence. Now at last in Tom Holland's In the Shadow of the Sword, they finally have it (David Frum)

Captivating and informative

The author and the narrator cooperate to tell the story of the march of religion and culture through the end of late antiquity in a way that often has the feel of a rollicking adventure.

Though the information content is dense, it comes at the reader with the pace of a good story, and the picture it paints is illuminating and satisfying.

Extremely Good, Informative and Eye Opening Read

An essential must read for anyone trying to truly understand today's geopolitics and social turmoil

Another great book from Tom Holland

What did you love best about In the Shadow of the Sword?

I've read and listened to four of Tom Holland's books, he has the ability to capture a lot of historical fact and put into a way of making it understandable.

Excellent overview of the ending of late antiquity

The narrator is great, and the amount of information in this book is staggering. That said, I found it far too long, especially compared to Rubicon. That's to be expected, as the topic is so much larger, but I still struggled to finish this book. The highlight for me was all the information on Sassanids and white huns etc. Recommended for history buffs.

out. of. control. prose, didactics, cheekyness

The Narrator is a stellar. The Author celestial. Must read for any anyone interested in history. Also, a triumph of scholarship. The thing good.

Great history

Yet another fantastic book from Tom Holland. Yet more history is made interesting and accessible. The performance is also great.

Too many details…

The message got lost among all the details and sylistic flourishes. Also as the author keeps jumping hundreds of years in time, the lack of dates makes the book even more opaque.

Encompassing, detailed, epic, but suffers from misguided attempts at revisionism and some questionable narratives.

This one is an epic history of the fall of the Sassanian and Roman Empires at the intersection of a rising Arab hegemony backgrounded by the nascent religion of Islam. While the arcs and narratives are interesting, riveting, and overall well-written, it started to lose steam in the last couple of chapters when it started to tackle the historicity of Muhammad, the rise of Islamic as a religious concept, and the nature of the movement itself that began in Arabia. I appreciate the attempt at the critical examination of the Islamic and Arabian chapters in history, just wish it was more well executed and backed up by more reputable sources. Maybe this book will benefit from an updated edition, who knows?

As for the narration, it was great. It made for some good listening during the 17 and so hours of this long book. Overall, the book left me disappointed and yearning for more orthodox historical books about this particular era.