3 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Grossly biased, celebrative and subjective, September 14, 2008
This review is from: Empire of the Islamic World (Great Empires of the Past) (Hardcover)
Although it is clearly an introduction to the islamic empire ( a mere 100 pages), this book still manages to be a solid propaganda for everything islamic. Many times it mentions how various things in the west originates in the islamic world (tennis, architecture in florida, knowledge) but doesn't explain that in the last 100 years, things have only come from the west to the islamic world. (architecture, knowledge, technology) Nor does it mention the great upsettling of people: the people explosion of most islamic countries and the flow of these to the west - as well as the lack of westerners moving to the islamic world.
When it mentions the meeting of west and islamic, it doesn't explain the unflattering side of the islamic empire, but only the victiimizing and flattering side: in the example below, the infobox "muslim influence in spain" has two lines about how the islamics came to spain (only says that they were there) and then launches in a tirade of how the christians threw them out, and underlines how cultured the islamics are and what lasting impression they've left.
"At the height of the Islamic Empire, the Arabs controlled the southeastern two-thirds of the Iberian Peninsula. In addition to Cordoba, the Muslims revitalized such Spanish cities as Toledo,Granada, and Seville. For more than five centuries, Spain was a unique place in Europe, a region where culture and learning were valued
and nurtured. By 1248, when Seville was conquered by
Christian forces, the Muslims had lost control of all of Spain, except Granada. The conquerors did not initially expel all the Muslims. By about
1500 though, after the fall of Granada, things had changed. In their attempts to wipe out all traces of Muslim influence, the Christian conquerors banned Arabic and Muslims in Spain were faced with the choice of conversion or exile. Despite this, Islamic influences can still be
detected throughout the region. For example,many Arabic words are part of the Spanish language.The Spanish expression olé comes from
the Arabic wallahi, which means "by God!" Many other Spanish words that begin with al are Islamic in origin, including alcachofa (artichoke),
aldea (village), and aljibe (well)."
This is clearly a book designed to teach muslim american children (or to make american children see the wonders of the muslim cultures) whom a teacher desire to have a certain perspective. This book can not be used as as an objective teaching instrument nor can it be used by adults as introduction to muslim culture and history, at least not without several other books on the subjects.
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