Laurence Louër’s Sunnis and Shi‘a is a political history of one of Islam’s oldest and most consequential divisions.

Louër traces the split from the question of succession after Muhammad’s death through the formation of rival traditions of political and religious authority, then follows how those traditions were repeatedly reshaped by dynasties, clerical institutions, empires, nationalism and the modern state. 

Moving through Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Lebanon, she looks at how Sunni and Shi‘a communities have not simply existed as two permanently hostile camps, and their differences have often been entangled with struggles over state power, legitimacy and institutional control. Originally published in French in 2017 and translated into English by Ethan Rundell.

Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2020. First Australian paperback edition. Paperback. Very light shelf wear and minor handling marks to covers. Internally clean and unmarked; binding firm. Near fine condition.