Lumbard book wins best-of-year award

"Islam, Fundamentalism, and the Betrayal of Tradition: Revised and Expanded," edited by Joseph E.B. Lumbard, has been cited by the National “Best Books 2010” Awards as the top book of the year in the category Current Events: Political/Social.

 The awards are sponsored by USA Book News, an online book-news magazine.

"Islam, Fundamentalism, and the Betrayal of Tradition" contains a collection of essays examining religious, political and historical factors that have led to the rise of Islamic fundamentalism. The revised edition includes a new essay on the role of women in Islam, an updated chapter containing insights into the concept of Jihad, and three fully revised chapters that bring the discussion up-to-date with the current global situation.

Lumbard, assistant professor of classical Islam, researches Islamic intellectual traditions, with an emphasis on Sufism and Islamic philosophy.  He is currently researching the development of Sufi theories of love in the early Islamic period and their influence on the Persian Sufi tradition.