Islam and Capitalism. Foreword by Roger Owen

"Islam and Capitalism" is a learned, engaged rebuttal of the cultural reductionism of Max Weber and others who have tried to explain the politics and society of the Middle East by reference to some unchanging entity called 'Islam,' typically characterised as instinctively hostile to capitalism. Maxime Rodinson looks at the facts, analysing economic texts with his customary common sense, to show that Muslims never had any trouble making money.
REVIEWS:
'In Islam and Capitalism, we can see a powerful mind wrestling with some of the largest questions which concern, not just the peoples of the Middle East but also those who wish to understand their economies, their societies and their ideologies, and to chart their progress.' Roger Owen

AUTHOR BIO:
Maxime Rodinson (1915-2004) was a French Marxist historian, sociologist and a professor at the renowned Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris. His books include The Arabs, Muhammad and Cult, Ghetto, and State: The Persistence of the Jewish Question (Saqi).