The House Divided

A Prospect 'History Book of the Year' 2024A Guardian 'Best Gift Book of 2024''A masterly engagement with the most delicate and important of subjects - filled with gentle empathy, learning and rare balance' Rory Stewart'Rogerson is an original - eloquent and always fascinating ... few British authors understand the Middle East so intimately and well' William DalrympleRecommended on The Rest is Politics and EmpireAt the heart of the Middle East, with its regional conflicts and proxy wars, is a 1400-year-old schism between Sunni and Shia. To understand this divide and its modern resonances, we need to revisit its origins, which go back to the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632, the accidental coup that set aside the claims of his cousin and son-in-law Ali, and the slaughter of Ali's own son Husayn at Kerbala.