This is a book that I recommend to everyone who is interested in understanding the history of Shi'e split from Sunni faction(s) in Islam. The book, however, goes much beyond that, and provides insight to developments of Islam at Mohammed's time, and immediately after his death, as well as a detailed follow on to present day. It is written with a style that keeps the reader glued to the book, unlike most books in similar subjects.

There are two points that I have minor criticism: the book contains numerous Arabic (and Farsi) names, perhaps too many names are given in the book. This practice, even though it provides credibility for the content, makes the reading of the book difficult for even those who can read Farsi and Arabic.

The second point is this: a few of dates provided in the text (such as birth, death, start or completion of events, etc.) appear inaccurate, even if one accepts the information detailed on the same page where the dates are recorded.

All in all, an excellent book for both the novice, as well as informed individuals. This book can also be used as a reference source; it has nearly 100 pages of bibliography, index, etc.

This book is not to be missed. I was looking in an American bookstore for any treatment at all of Shi'i Islam, and was never expecting such an intellectual masterpiece as this one. The strong points of the book:

1. Above all else, this is an adventure story. The reader gets no dry survey of Shi'i tenets, but relives several familiar and unfamiliar moments in the history of Islam. First there is the stirring recap of the Prophet Muhammad and his battles. Then there is the death of the Prophet, and the pivotal decision to grant the caliphate to Abu Bakr-- at which point the book is very fair in considering several possible theories as to what Ali's reaction was to being bypassed. From there, we enter a phase of the book in which the various Shi'i imams live in greater or lesser conflict with the Sunni majority, with the obvious highlight being the death of Husayn and his companions at Karbala, which was extremely moving even to me, a non-Muslim. Momen calmly but powerfully dismisses the frequent cynical interpretation of Husayn's self-sacrifice, and he emerges as a true martyr from these pages. But perhaps the most haunting moment of the book (and of Twelver Shi'ism in general) is its brief discussion of the supposed disappearance of the 12th imam down a dark well.

2. Momen gives an unbelievably thorough overview of every branch and heresy of the Shi'i movement. He catalogs such subtle discrepancies in these movements that on several occasions I wasn't even sure of the exact difference between the two movements. Among these groups are some wonderfully bizarre sects, such as the Ravenists who seem to have believed that Gabriel mistakenly revealed the Qur'an to Muhammad instead of Ali-- I have rarely heard of a stranger religious sect than this one, and Momen brings it and others alive in the space of about a paragraph apiece.

3. After leaving the period of the imams themselves, Momen does a fine job moving on to the internal development and politics of the Shi'i faith. Here, we find ourselves largely in Iran, which Momen depicts quite brilliantly.

4. As other reviewers have pointed out, Moojan Momen is almost unbelievably objective. Indeed, after reading the book, I can still barely guess as to his personal views on many of the issues discussed in the book. I also read aloud to a Baha'i the passages on the Babi and Baha'i faiths, and this person told me that this was the most objective account he had ever heard of the Baha'i faith from a Muslim.

To summarize, I would say that this book gave me a guided tour of the inside of Shi'i Islam. Never have I viewed it as sympathetically as I do now. Few works of scholarship balance intellectual content with spiritual appeal the way this one does.

I have already recommended it to others.

I was surprised to find that I could not put this book down. I figured this would be a dry subject and picked it up because I wanted to have a better understanding of Shi'I Islam. Dr. Momen's book was very detailed yet the subject matter read like a story rather than a series of facts strewn together. The succession of the Imams and the tribulations entwined within that history were especially riveting. At the same time I always felt Dr. Momen was treating the subject fairly, giving a detailed and balanced account, especially in areas where the history is a source of controversy between the two branches of Islam.