Hardcover ed. published in 2006.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 275-290) and index.

Considers the ways in which struggles between the Shia and Sunni in the Middle East will affect the region's future, offering insight into the power conflicts between Iran and Saudi Arabia for political and spiritual leadership of the Muslim world.

As nations around the world struggle with the threat of militant Islam, Vali Nasr, one of the leading scholars on the Middle East, provides us with the rare opportunity to understand the political and theological antagonisms within Islam itself. The Shia Revival is a penetrating historical account of sectarian conflicts in the Muslim world, showing that the future rests in finding a peaceful solution to the ancient rivalries between the Shias and the Sunnis. Nasr provides a unique and objective understanding of this 1,400-year bitter struggle between the two sects -- tracing its roots from the succession of the Prophet Mohammad -- forcing us to differentiate the religious and theological aspect of Islam from its political and military rivalries. -- from http://www.cfr.org (Nov. 26, 2013).

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