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Tag Archives: Islam
Inside the Kingdom
Inside the Kingdom: Kings, Clerics, Modernists, Terrorists, and the Struggle for Saudi Arabia432 pages© 2009 Robert Lacey When I first began paying attention to politics, the cozy relationship between Saudi Arabia and the DC power-caste confused me to no end. … Continue reading
When Asia was the World
When Asia Was the World: Traveling Merchants, Scholars, Warriors, and Monks Who Created the ‘Riches of the East© 2009 Stewart Gordon256 pages When Asia was the World revisits, through the lives of traveling monks, traders, and warriors, the extraordinary vistas and … Continue reading
Posted in history, Reviews
Tagged Asia, Buddhism, Central Asia, China, history, Islam, trade
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In God’s Path
In God’s Path: the Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic Empire© 2015 Robert Hoyland303 pages A Roman author referred to the Roman and Persian empires as the two eyes of the world — but they didn’t see the … Continue reading
Posted in history, Reviews
Tagged Arabia, Central Asia, Eastern Rome/Byzantine, history, Islam, Mediterranean, Middle East, Persia-Iran
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After the Prophet
After the Prophet: the Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split © 2009 Lesley Hazleton256 pages When Muhammad lay in his deathbed, legend has it that he cried to God for pity on those who would follow him. With no sons and … Continue reading
This week: the usual suspects
Well, dear readers, it’s another month! I have a serious itch for science and science fiction at the moment, so I have no less than five potential science reads stacked up now, and three potential SF books. Among the numbers…Domesticated: Evolution in … Continue reading
Posted in history, Reviews
Tagged Arabia, Christianity, Eastern Rome/Byzantine, history, Islam, Middle East, military, Near East, Orthodoxy, Persia, Persia-Iran
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Destiny, Disrupted
Destiny, Disruted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes© 2009 Tamim Ansary416 pages When Tamim Ansary was a boy, he loved history. Specifically, he loved narrativehistory, the kind of drama that brought the past to life. The problem was that the … Continue reading
Posted in history, Reviews
Tagged Arabia, history, Islam, Middle East, Near East, Persia, Persia-Iran, survey, Turkey
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The Lost History of Christianity
The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia — And How It Died© 2008 Philip Jenkins315 pages For the first millennium of the church’s history, Europe was less … Continue reading
Posted in history, Reviews
Tagged Asia, Christianity, Eastern Christianity, Eastern Rome/Byzantine, Egypt, history, Islam, Middle East, Near East, Persia, Persia-Iran, religion
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The Egyptians
The Egyptians© 1997 Barbara Watterson368 pages “We stand where Caesar and Napoleon stood, and remember that fifty centuries look down upon us; where the Father of History came four hundred years before Caesar, and heard the tales that were to … Continue reading
Posted in history, Reviews
Tagged Africa, ancient world, classical world, Eastern Rome/Byzantine, Egypt, history, Islam, Mediterranean, Middle East, Near East, survey
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Ornament of the World
Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain© 2002 Maria Rose Menocal315 pages Ornament of the World is the story of a unique civilization in medieval Europe, one … Continue reading
Posted in history, Reviews
Tagged Christianity, history, Islam, Medieval, Mediterranean, religion, Spain
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Vanished World
A Vanished World: Christians, Muslims, and Jews in Medieval Spain© 2005 Chris Lowney320 pages Vanished World sets medieval Spain before the reader with the warning; we may be blessed or cursed by emulating its example. The Iberian peninsula is the very perimeter of … Continue reading
Posted in history, Reviews
Tagged Christianity, history, Islam, Judaism, Medieval, religion, Spain
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