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Sword and scimitar : fourteen centuries of war between Islam and the West / Raymond Ibrahim ; with a foreword by Victor Davis Hanson.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York, NY : De Capo Press, Hachette Book Group, 2018Copyright date: ©2018Edition: First editionDescription: xvii, 334 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates ; illustrations, map : 24 cmContent type:
  • text
  • still image
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780306825552
  • 0306825554
Subject(s):
Contents:
Introduction Jihad : the roots of conflict -- Islam takes Christendom by storm : the Battle of Yarmuk, 636 -- The Jihad beats against an eastern wall of stone : the Siege of -- Constantinople, 717 -- The Jihad beats against a western wall of ice : the Battle of Tours, 732 -- Jihad's new champions (or, "that dreadful day") : the battle of Manzikert, 1071 -- Christendom strikes back : the Battle of Hattin, 1187 -- The crusade victorious : the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, 1212 -- Muhammad's dream : the siege of Constantinople, 1453 -- The rise and fall of Islam : the Siege of Vienna, 1683.
Summary: A sweeping history of the often-violent conflict between Islam and the West, shedding a revealing light on current hostilities The West and Islam--the sword and the scimitar--have clashed since the mid-seventh century, when, according to Muslim tradition, the Byzantine emperor rejected Prophet Muhammad's order to abandon Christianity and convert to Islam, unleashing a centuries-long jihad on Christendom. Sword and Scimitar chronicles the significant battles that arose from this ages-old Islamic jihad, beginning with the first major Islamic attack on Christian land in 636, through the occupation of the Middle East that prompted the Crusades and the far-flung conquests of the Ottoman Turks, to the European colonization of the Muslim world in the 1800s, when Islam largely went on the retreat--until its reemergence in recent times. Using original sources in Arabic, Greek, Latin, and Turkish, preeminent historian Raymond Ibrahim describes each battle in vivid detail and explains the effect the outcome had on larger historical currents of the age and how the military lessons of the battle reflect the cultural faultlines between Islam and the West. The majority of these landmark battles are now forgotten or considered inconsequential. Yet today, as the West faces a resurgence of this enduring Islamic jihad, Sword and Scimitar provides the needed historical context to understand the current relationship between the West and the Islamic world, and why the Islamic State is merely the latest chapter of an old history.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 355.0209 I14 Available 33111009234978
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A sweeping history of the often-violent conflict between Islam and the West, shedding a revealing light on current hostilities

The West and Islam -- the sword and scimitar -- have clashed since the mid-seventh century, when, according to Muslim tradition, the Roman emperor rejected Prophet Muhammad's order to abandon Christianity and convert to Islam, unleashing a centuries-long jihad on Christendom.

Sword and Scimitar chronicles the decisive battles that arose from this ages-old Islamic jihad, beginning with the first major Islamic attack on Christian land in 636, through the Muslim occupation of nearly three-quarters of Christendom which prompted the Crusades, followed by renewed Muslim conquests by Turks and Tatars, to the European colonization of the Muslim world in the 1800s, when Islam largely went on the retreat -- until its reemergence in recent times. Using original sources in Arabic and Greek, preeminent historian Raymond Ibrahim describes each battle in vivid detail and explains how these wars and the larger historical currents of the age reflect the cultural fault lines between Islam and the West.

The majority of these landmark battles -- including the battles of Yarmuk, Tours, Manzikert, the sieges at Constantinople and Vienna, and the crusades in Syria and Spain--are now forgotten or considered inconsequential. Yet today, as the West faces a resurgence of this enduring Islamic jihad, Sword and Scimitar provides the needed historical context to understand the current relationship between the West and the Islamic world -- and why the Islamic State is merely the latest chapter of an old history.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction Jihad : the roots of conflict -- Islam takes Christendom by storm : the Battle of Yarmuk, 636 -- The Jihad beats against an eastern wall of stone : the Siege of -- Constantinople, 717 -- The Jihad beats against a western wall of ice : the Battle of Tours, 732 -- Jihad's new champions (or, "that dreadful day") : the battle of Manzikert, 1071 -- Christendom strikes back : the Battle of Hattin, 1187 -- The crusade victorious : the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, 1212 -- Muhammad's dream : the siege of Constantinople, 1453 -- The rise and fall of Islam : the Siege of Vienna, 1683.

A sweeping history of the often-violent conflict between Islam and the West, shedding a revealing light on current hostilities The West and Islam--the sword and the scimitar--have clashed since the mid-seventh century, when, according to Muslim tradition, the Byzantine emperor rejected Prophet Muhammad's order to abandon Christianity and convert to Islam, unleashing a centuries-long jihad on Christendom. Sword and Scimitar chronicles the significant battles that arose from this ages-old Islamic jihad, beginning with the first major Islamic attack on Christian land in 636, through the occupation of the Middle East that prompted the Crusades and the far-flung conquests of the Ottoman Turks, to the European colonization of the Muslim world in the 1800s, when Islam largely went on the retreat--until its reemergence in recent times. Using original sources in Arabic, Greek, Latin, and Turkish, preeminent historian Raymond Ibrahim describes each battle in vivid detail and explains the effect the outcome had on larger historical currents of the age and how the military lessons of the battle reflect the cultural faultlines between Islam and the West. The majority of these landmark battles are now forgotten or considered inconsequential. Yet today, as the West faces a resurgence of this enduring Islamic jihad, Sword and Scimitar provides the needed historical context to understand the current relationship between the West and the Islamic world, and why the Islamic State is merely the latest chapter of an old history.

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