Primarily a political history of the Islamic world, the book aims to be a "bird's-eye view of the fortunes of the believers in Islam". The first half of the book covers pre-Islamic history in the region, the rise of Muhammad and his political descendents, the Islamic empire's rise and fall, and the rise of the Ottoman Empire and the Persian Empire. Fully half the book is devoted to the history of individual nations from the nineteenth century onwards, including the Ottoman Empire/Turkey, Egypt, Ottoman territories in Eastern Europe, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, and elsewhere in North Africa, Sudan, Persia/Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, and Iraq. Throughout, the analysis includes discussions of important thinkers and regional differences within each empire.