Hailed as "the doyen of Middle Eastern studies" in _The New York Times
Book Review_, Bernard Lewis stands at the height of his field. "To
read Mr. Lewis," wrote Fouad Ajami in _The Wall Street Journal_, "is
to be taken through a treacherous terrain by the coolest and most
reassuring of guides. You are in the hands of the Islamic world's
foremost living historian." Now this sure-handed guide takes us
through treacherous terrain indeed--the events of 1492, a year laden
with epic events and riven by political debate.With elegance and
erudition, Lewis explores that climactic year as a clash of
civilizations--a clash not only of the New World and the Old, but also
of Christendom and Islam, of Europe and the rest. In the same year
that Columbus set sail across the Atlantic, he reminds us, the Spanish
monarchy captured Granada, the last Muslim stronghold on the
peninsula, and also expelled the Jews. Lewis uses these three epochal
events to explore the nature of the European-Islamic conflict, placing
the voyages of discovery in a striking new context. He traces
Christian Europe's path from being a primitive backwater on the edges
of the vast, cosmopolitan Caliphate, through the heightening rivalry
of the two religions, to the triumph of the West over Islam, examining
the factors behind their changing fortunes and cultural
qualities.Balanced and insightful, this far-reaching discussion of the
encounters between Islam, the West, and the globe provides a new
understanding of the distant events that gave shape to the modern
world.
Les mer
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780199840533
Publisert
2020
Utgiver
Vendor
Oxford University Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter