Customer Reviews

The Golden Age of the Moor (Journal of African Civilizations)

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Over the years I have both read and heard many different theories about the racial and ethnic identity of the people that history refers to as the Moors. According to history, the Moors are the people who invaded and then occupied southern Spain for some 400 years and made their presence felt thoughout Europe. However, the historians who give us there theories on the racial and ethnic identity of the Moors give very little, and in many cases, no credible evidence at all to support them. In his book The Golden Age Of The Moor, Ivan Van Sertima takes an entirely different approach to identifing the Moors. He dosen't atempt to explain the theories of others nor does he offer a theory of his own. Instead Van Sertima presents a compilation of historical information taken from the museums of Europe that describe the Moors. In his book Van Sertima presents paintings, sculptures, coats of arms, and written records about the Moors, that date back to the period that the Moors were in Europe. Van Sertima's approach is based upon his premis that the most accurate information about the Moors would be the information recorded by the European historians and the European people that lived during the period of time that Moors were in Europe. I wholeheartly agree with Van Sertima. I feel that his book, The Golden Age Of The Moor is an excellent work, highly recomended for anyone looking for factual information on the racial and ethnic identity of the Moors.

It is a pity that in the 21st century a book about the Moors still is forced to take great pains over the question of their skin pigmentation. Nonetheless, it is apparently necessary to do so, and this book directs tremendous scholarly firepower on the issue. I hope that it establishes beyond the need for further debate that the Moors were black africans that conquered and civilized Spain, and then lost it again to a white European reconquista.

If one can get that out of the way, there is so much more of interest in this book. The Moors were among the most civilized peoples of the world in their time. The book has a wealth of detail about that civilization. The most interesting thesis in my mind was that the Moors were a source of the knowledge that flooded Europe in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and thus were coauthors of the renaissance, along with the Arabs and Turks on the other side of the Mediterranean.

The book is occasionally turgid - of interest only to scholars, but there are so many ideas that will be unfamiliar to those of us raised on conventional wisdom, and there is so much detail about the contributions of the Moors to civilization, that this is a must-read for anyone with a serious interest in where we all came from.

Golden Age of the Moor is destined to become a classic if it isn't already that. If I could give it ten stars, I'd give it twenty. Teeming with boldly told truths and irrefutable facts about what was perhaps the most pivotal time period in the history of African and Western cultures, focusing on one of the greatest empires ever, this book is not merely a great read; it is full scale reeducation. Zooming in on the Moorish occupation of Spain between the 8th and 15th centuries, this book offers readers an inspiring revisitation of that period. Here is an awesome compilation of well presented scholarly essays representing an all-star ensemble of front line scholars and progressive thinkers, complied and edited by the J. A. Rogers of this generation, Dr. Ivan Van Sertima. And speaking of Rogers, Golden Age of the Moor mirrors Rogers, as it too, displays many rare illustrations and photographs depicting historical Moors as the highly civilized and enlightened people they were. And this book boldly identifies Moors as an African phenotype.

It's really exciting to vicariously participate in the collaborative work of these great minds as they converge scholarship on this one important subject; the Moors. One can only imagine the force of energy and unity involved to make this timely project the outstanding resource success it is. It's shameful that so Many people are dumbfounded about this history, thus, I feel awkward saying, this is one of the best books on the subject.

I've read some harsh criticisms about this work and it is nothing but sour grapes. When truth, especially that which has been hidden for a very long time, boldly emerges; some people who have profited by its absence, either emotionally, spiritually, economically or whatever, are certain to anger, and through that anger; they will call the truth teller a liar. Such is the case with the emergence of this book. Moorish history has for too long been pushed out of the big picture and it deserves its proper place on the historical canvas. We applaud those who dare to interpret and report history with integrity to let the chips fall where they may. On that note, I recommend the Euvolution Of Sacred Muur Science By Noble Timothy El as a complementary resource to this book.

My only criticism (and perhaps it's not really that) is that, as some of the contributors here present the research supporting Moorish identity, they seem to almost defend their positions in doing so. While I do understand the reason for this, I insist that truth needs no explanation or defense. Everybody who knows, knows the Moors were Africans. You need not engage, dignify or invite polemics on that topic. History speaks louder than words. Cased closed!

Mr. Van Sertima! Thank you, Sir.

Superior book that's all I can say, nothing but the facts any detractors are just hating. Like Malcolm said "History is a just reward for all research" and thats what Ivan Van Sertima presents in one of his best works on Moor culture. I would recommend this book along with "The Huevolution of Sacred Muur Science Past and Present" by Noble Timothy Myers-EL (2005)

Over the years I have both read and heard many different theories about the racial and ethnic identity of the people that history refers to as the Moors. According to history the Moors are the people who invaded and occupied southern Spain for some 400 years and made their presence felt thoughout Europe. However, the historians who give there theories on the racial identity of the Moors give very little, and in many cases no credible evidence at all to support them. In his book Golden Age Of The Moor, Ivan Van Sertima takes an entirely different approach to identifing the Moors. He dosen't atempt to explain the theories of others nor does he offer a theory of his own. Instead Van Sertima presents a compilation of historical information taken from the museums of Europe that describe the Moors. In his book Van Sertima presents Paintings, scuptors, coats of arms, and written records about the Moors that date back to the period that the Moors were in Europe. Van Sertima's approach is based his premis that the most accurate information about the Moors would be the information recorded by the European historians and the European people that lived during the period of time that Moors were in Europe. And I wholeheartly agree with Van Sertima. Yes, Golden Age Of The Moor is an excellent work highly recomended for anyone looking for factual information on the racial and ethnic identity of the Moors.

Funny as it sounds, I had no idea of a "Moor" until I saw "Black Knight" with Martin Lawrence. I was wondering why they constantly kept calling him "Moor", was this the equivalent of "Nigger"???

So naturally I went to my Encylopedia (sooo dated by the way) and looked up the term "Moor". Some truth was in their descriptions of Moorish Spain but of course there were lies. One of the most shocking was "Moors were NOT black. Moors come from a European stock".

tsk tsk

Wouldn't you say that's a tad bit misleading? Well I used common sense and didn't take this seriously, and started looking elsewhere. Eslewhere you also hear "Moors were not Black, they were Arab" or "Moors were of a mixed Arab & European race"...pretty much anything besides Black.

I'm guessing if you perpetuate such nonsense it WILL stick.

Dr Ivan Sertima is trully a force in Academia. This book is a perfect example of that authority. This is my 2nd book by the world reknowned scholar & I must say he's outdone himself again. Since a Historian like Dr. Ivan van Sertima is practically forced to emphasize skin color in his work, a Historian with such drive shall prevail.

I'm very tempted to long hand certain commentary from this book but that wouldn't be fair to the Doctor or future readers.

What we call Eurocentric Academia, I feel, has left a gigantic void in World History. This allows Historians like Ivan van Sertima to easily destroy accepted rhetoric in Academia. With the help of Runoko Rashidi, James E. Brunson, Scobie & others, they cover every angle from language to Shakespeare to Spanish Music. Along with convicing photos & credible sources, Arab/African/European, I would say Moors shouldn't be a mystery to anybody, especially what race they were in this time period.

Anybody trully interested in History should own this book, as well as any Ivan van Sertima book you could get your hands on.

Once again, Ivan Van Sertima comes to the rescue by revealing parts of history that many European scholars have deliberately tried to hide. When you read the accomplishments of the Moors, you will be both astounded and angry. Astounded at the vast number of contributions they gave this world [Mathematics (quadratic equations and trigonometry), architecture, science, astronomy, chemistry, art, food (rice, coffee, sugar, lemon), cotton, plumbing, and even the water thermometer!] and angry at the systematic cover up of these contributions and the deliberate "re-assignment" of their accomplishments to other cultures.

Not only does this book discuss chronological events that transpired, it also gives an insightful depiction of Moorish, Spanish and European cultures at the time. The research is so thorough, it even includes detailed descriptions of the types of musical instruments used by the Moors and their influence over music at the time. I don't know of any other "history" book that does that. The book is well organized and what I especially like is that it references other books and authors to collaborate the facts - and Van Sertima gives indepth biographies on the authors referenced.

The Golden Age of the Moor is an appropriate title. While the Moors were making incredible advancements in technology and learning, the rest of Europe (during the middle ages) was illiterate and had not one paved sidewalk or street light. It touches on every aspect of Moorish history and the Moorish influence on Spain and the rest of Europe. Most importantly, it discusses the proper nomenclature for Moors and the true ethnic origins of African Moors. An excellent companion book to this is "The Story of the Moors in Spain" by Stanley Lane-Poole. I strongly encourage anyone who wants to learn more about not only the history of the Moors but the history of Europe to read both these books.

Since when does research done uses ancient historical sources become revisionist. Maybe to those who have been trained and lied to allm their life I guess it's like breaking the news to a child that Santa doen't exist...Yawwnnn. Another attempt to slight anything positive of black people. Only problem is, this was written by a white man who had every reason to NOT write the positive and instead gain for writing the negative, but that was and is the difference from the average European white vs american white.That's why so many black military men and yes jazz musicans stayed so long in Europe and even relocated there. There is not this untreated sickness that many american whites have.
So sad.......

The Golden Age of the Moor remains one of the best books written that talks solely about the Moors, their origins, and the advances they made in Spain. This book is pro-Moor. It doesn't talk about slavery, the Inquisition, etc. It's made to clearly show the impact Moorish culture had on Europe. Meaning this is a rare book, because very few come from this angle. As one studies the Inquisition, and many books written on it, you'll notice that many authors sweep the ethnicity of the Moors completely under the rug. Either that, or they'll write them off as Berbers (a language group consisting of numerous different clans and groups). There is no other book that comes to mind that shows how deep the Moorish influence was. My copy is worn out after so much use, this is a very underrated book though.

Truth. I love it so that I am going re-read it again. I highly recommend. The good thing is that this book contain an excellent bibliography.