Maxime Rodinson, Marxist expert on Islam, dies
MARSEILLE, France, May 25 (AFP) - The French historian and sociologist Maxime Rodinson, who wrote a series of internationally-acclaimed books on Islam and the Arab world from a Marxist perspective, has died at the age of 89, his family said Tuesday.
The son of a Jewish emigre from Russia, who died at Auschwitz along with his wife, Rodinson was best known for his 1961 biography of the prophet Mohamed - named simply "Mohamed" - and the follow-up "Islam and capitalism."
For 20 years a member of the Communist party, Rodinson left in 1958 but remained true to a Marxist analysis of the relations between economic forces and societies.
© AFP
