Why This Source Matters
Irwin's biography is useful because it resists turning Ibn Khaldun into a modern social scientist dropped into the Middle Ages. It places his ideas inside court politics, Islamic scholarship, the aftermath of plague, and the literary world in which the Muqaddimah was written.
Best Uses
Use it for life context, intellectual framing, and modern cautions about overreading Ibn Khaldun through present-day categories.
Limits
This is a modern interpretation, not a replacement for reading the Muqaddimah itself. Use it alongside Rosenthal's translation and other Maghrebi history sources.
Citation Practice
Cite this source when explaining how modern scholars interpret Ibn Khaldun's biography, intellectual setting, and reception.
Stable Access
Page-Range Guidance
JSTOR exposes the chapter map for this edition. Route biographical framing through "Ibn Khaldun among the Ruins" and "The Game of Thrones in Fourteenth-Century North Africa"; nomadic society and `asabiyyah through "The Nomads, Their Virtues, and Their Place in History"; method through "Underpinning the Methodology of the Muqaddima"; Egypt through "Ibn Khaldun's Sojourn among the Mamluks in Egypt"; Sufism through "The Sufi Mystic"; economics through "Economics before Economics Had Been Invented"; teaching and authorship through "What Ibn Khaldun Did for a Living"; and reception through "The Strange Afterlife of the Muqaddima." Add exact page numbers from JSTOR or the print copy before making a pinpoint citation.