"A powerful and important book. A masterly and thoughtful study of human cruelty and endurance."

– Gerard Russell, Financial Times

"An elegant and ambitious synthesis, serving up a scintillating compendium of lives. Gliding through the ages, Marozzi's prose recalls an older tradition of history writing - the effortless fluidity of a John Julius Norwich of Jan Morris. Reading him, one thinks of Tintoretto: vast canvases, mannered style, high drama, narrative drive."

– Pratinav Anil, The Times (London)

“Fluid and enriching. The range and detail of Marozzi’s research brings a welcome variation on the standard view of Islamic history.”

– Publishers Weekly

"A scrupulously fair, fearless and detailed history."

– Christopher Hart, The Daily Mail

"Superb. A remarkably humane work, written in urbane and polished prose."

– Bartle Bull, Literary Review

Praise for Justin Marozzi

“Mr. Marozzi is an accomplished and ambitious writer. A sweeping, vibrant and often irrepressible account of the cities most emblematic of Islam since that religion was promulgated by the Prophet Muhammed in the early seventh century. Like an erudite magpie, he gathers material from every available source—primary texts, both religious and historical, as well as a profusion of secondary ones—and weaves it all together with dexterity."

– The Wall Street Journal 

“A relief from the often downbeat tone of literature about the region.”
 

– The Economist

"Parts of Justin Marozzi’s Captives and Companions are hard to read and that’s as it should be. We are obsessed with the Atlantic traffic but the mass trade carried on in the Islamic world, sanctioned by the faith, gets far less attention. This book is a necessary corrective."

– Evening Standard, a "Book of the Week"

"Justin Marozzi is a precious rarity—a serious traveler who is also a real writer, with a wonderful feel for language, a gift for narrative and an enviable sensitivity and lightness of touch." 

– William Dalrymple

"A bold, brilliant and timely history that confronts one of the most neglected and uncomfortable subjects in global history. Justin Marozzi brings to life the complexity and humanity of the Islamic world’s entanglement with slavery using an extraordinary range of sources, across more than a millennium and across sweeping geographies. Not just a mesmerizing book, but a profoundly important one too."

– Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads: A New History of the World

"A powerful and important book. A masterly and thoughtful study of human cruelty and endurance."

– Gerard Russell, Financial Times

"An elegant and ambitious synthesis, serving up a scintillating compendium of lives. Gliding through the ages, Marozzi's prose recalls an older tradition of history writing - the effortless fluidity of a John Julius Norwich of Jan Morris. Reading him, one thinks of Tintoretto: vast canvases, mannered style, high drama, narrative drive."

– Pratinav Anil, The Times (London)

"A scrupulously fair, fearless and detailed history."

– Christopher Hart, The Daily Mail

"Superb. A remarkably humane work, written in urbane and polished prose."

– Bartle Bull, Literary Review

"Parts of Justin Marozzi’s Captives and Companions are hard to read and that’s as it should be. We are obsessed with the Atlantic traffic but the mass trade carried on in the Islamic world, sanctioned by the faith, gets far less attention. This book is a necessary corrective."

– Evening Standard, a "Book of the Week"