The Cambridge History of America and the World

The third volume of The Cambridge History of America and the World covers the volatile period between 1900 and 1945 when the United States emerged as a world power and American engagements abroad flourished in new and consequential ways. Showcasing the most innovative approaches to both traditional topics and emerging themes, leading scholars chart the complex ways in which Americans projected their growing influence across the globe; how others interpreted and constrained those efforts; how Americans disagreed with each other, often fiercely, about foreign relations; and how race, religion, gender, and other factors shaped their worldviews. During the early twentieth century, accelerating forces of global interdependence presented Americans, like others, with a set of urgent challenges from managing borders, humanitarian crises, economic depression, and modern warfare to confronting the radical, new political movements of communism, fascism, and anticolonial nationalism. This volume will set the standard for new understandings of this pivotal moment in the history of America and the world.

Faḍlallāh Al-Ḥurūfī and His World: Power, Religion, and Sufism

This article discusses Faḍlallāh al-Ḥurūfī’s relations with political and religious circles in detail from his early youth when he left Astarabad, until his execution at the behest of Mīrānshāh, Timur’s son, in 796/1394. The common opinion of why Faḍlallāh was executed is considered to be either his superstitious ideas or his pursuit of some messianic, and thus power-related, goals. We tried to find some clues to confute such stereotypical approaches. To this end, we tried to determine Faḍlallāh’s view and stance in regard to power by taking into consideration his relationships with statesmen. It was the ʿulamāʾ and the sufis who played the most critical and significant role in Faḍlallāh’s relationships with commoners and statesmen, as well as in his execution. That is why we have placed special emphasis on Faḍlallāh’s ties with the ʿulamāʾ and sufi circles. We discuss how the ʿulamāʾ and sufis tried to disqualify the other flourishing rival groups in the period leading up to Faḍlallāh’s execution.