From the Muslim conquest to imperial glory, through the shadows of colonial rule and into the age of modern independence — from the 7th to the 20th century — this book traces the sweeping saga of Islamic North Africa.

Through the exploits of fiery Umayyad generals, the rise of the Almoravids and Almohads, and the legacies of countless dynasties, sultans, tribal leaders, scholars, resistance fighters, and spiritual guides, it recounts the dazzling epic of this “West” of the Islamic civilization — a region as fiercely devoted to its faith as to its ancestral freedom.

At this crossroads of peoples and cultures were written, with courage and brilliance, some of the most glorious chapters in the history of the Muslim world.