God's Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570 to 1215W. W. Norton & Company, 2008 - 473 pages Hailed by critics as an essential book, God's Crucible is a bold, new interpretation of Islamic Spain and the birth of Europe from one of our greatest historians. David Levering Lewis's narrative, filled with accounts of some of the greatest battles in world history, reveals how cosmopolitan, Muslim al-Andalus flourished--a beacon of cooperation and tolerance--while proto-Europe floundered in opposition.At the beginning of the eighth century, the Arabs brought a momentous revolution in power, religion, and culture to Dark Ages Europe. David Levering Lewis's masterful history begins with the fall of the Persian and Roman empires, followed by the rise of the prophet Muhammad and the creation of Muslim Spain. Five centuries of engagement between the Muslim imperium and an emerging Europe followed, from the Muslim conquest of Visigoth Hispania in 711 to Latin Christendom's declaration of unconditional warfare on the Caliphate in 1215. Lewis's narrative, filled with accounts of some of the greatest battles in world history, reveals how cosmopolitan, Muslim al-Andalus flourished--a beacon of cooperation and tolerance between Islam, Judaism, and Christianity--while proto-Europe, defining itself in opposition to Islam, made virtues out of hereditary aristocracy, religious intolerance, perpetual war, and slavery. A cautionary tale, God's Crucible provides a new interpretation of world-altering events whose influence remains as current as today's headlines. |
Table des matières
The Superpowers | 3 |
The Arabs Are Coming | 29 |
Jihad | 57 |
The Coopted Caliphate and the Stumbling Jihad | 85 |
The Year 711 | 105 |
Picking Up the Pieces after Rome | 137 |
The Myth of Poitiers | 160 |
The Fall and Rise of the Umayyads 184 | 184 |
Roncesvalles and Saxony | 251 |
The Great Mosque | 268 |
The First Europe Briefly | 282 |
EquipoiseDelicate and Doomed | 304 |
Disequilibrium Pelayos Revenge | 333 |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS | 381 |
GLOSSARY | 423 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY | 439 |
Autres éditions - Tout afficher
God's Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215 David Levering Lewis Aucun aperçu disponible - 2009 |
God's Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215 David Levering Lewis Aucun aperçu disponible - 2018 |
Expressions et termes fréquents
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