IN LATE SPRING 2015, armed anti-Muslim demonstrators drew cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad outside a mosque in Phoenix, Arizona. Kecia Ali followed the incident, which made headlines worldwide, with keen interest. “Clearly, Muhammad remains a flashpoint in the current American climate,” says Ali, an associate professor of religion and author of The Lives of Muhammad (Harvard University Press, 2014). The book is a biography of biographies, showing how depictions of the Prophet by believers and non-believers alike have evolved over 14 centuries.

“Both Muslims and non-Muslims have been interested in and have told stories about Muhammad since the rise of Islam,” says Ali. From miracles to marriages, the life of the Prophet has been reinterpreted and rewritten by Muslim jurists and medieval Christian theologians, Washington Irving and Charlie Hebdo.

The Lives of Muhammad illustrates how Muslim and non-Muslim biographers have always been in conversation, quoting, responding to, and greatly influencing each other, especially since the 19th century. “My hope,” says Ali, “is that in some small way this book helps break down the illusion of a timeless clash of civilizations.”

Read an interview with Ali about the unreliable nature of so-called facts, prevailing misconceptions about Muhammad, and how biographical narratives reflect the times.

Teaching Equality

IT’S TOUGH TO BE OUT AND PROUD at the front of a classroom. When sociologist Catherine Connell talked with gay and lesbian teachers at schools in California and Texas, she quickly discovered homophobia wasn’t the whole story. “I was asking people about coming out, and why haven’t they come out,” says the assistant professor. “Those questions triggered a kind of unease.” Many teachers were both fearful of being accused of behaving inappropriately by disclosing their sexuality to students and guilty about failing to be role models and proud of their sexuality.

In her book, School’s Out: Gay and Lesbian Teachers in the Classroom (University of California Press, 2014), Connell explores the dual pressures of pride and professionalism, and the complications of race, gender presentation, school communities, and the current patchwork of state and local laws. The book is “a wake-up call,” according to C. J. Pascoe, chair of the Sex and Gender Section of the American Sociological Association, “encouraging us to think about how we might ‘queer’ schools in order to make them safer educational environments for students and teachers alike.”

Read more about Connell’s call for a radical rethinking of classroom culture.