Michael Cook, Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University and author of A History of the Muslim World: From Its Origins to the Dawn of Modernity, joins the show to discuss the sudden, explosive Arab expansion of the 7th century. ▪️Times     •     01:46 Introduction    •     03:05 Sources    •     04:42 War and politics       •     07:32 Grass and sand      •     09:30 Self-defense        •     12:21 Ibn Khaldun     •     16:11 An Arab identity      •     18:45 Knock on effects       •     26:40 Two targets     •     28:32 The Arab way of war      •     34:50 Coming out of the desert       •     38:48 Civil war     •     42:27 JihadFollow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcastFind a transcript of today’s episode on our School of War Substack