Journeys to the Other Shore: Muslim and Western Travelers in Search of Knowledge ( Princeton Studies in Muslim Politics (Hardcover) )

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"In this unusually elegant book, Roxanne Euben engages comparative political theory, an enterprise she has shaped decisively--one might well argue that she has conceived it in its present form. Here, she wears her erudition lightly, but it is very much present. She moves easily between languages and literatures, with a profound sense of historical context. She is at home in the Arabic language as few Western scholars are. There is little to say beyond praise for this work and its author."--Anne Norton, University of Pennsylvania, author of Leo Strauss and the Politics of American Empire

"This is a major book. It transcends the imagined great divide between East and West by examining the role of travel in shaping one's imagination of societies-both one's own and those of others. By giving equal weight to the sense of rootedness and difference in European and Muslim travel accounts, Roxanne Euben shows the fluid points of convergence and divergence in European and Muslim concepts of others. To paraphrase Claude L�vi-Strauss, Euben's book is good to think with."--Dale F. Eickelman, Dartmouth College