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52 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding look at sectarian conflicts, June 16, 2006
This review is from: Sea of Faith: Islam and Christianity in the Medieval Mediterranean World (Hardcover)
Having finally read "A Perfect Heresy", O'Shea's excellent but all-too-brief look into the Albigensian Crusade, I bought this based on the dust jacket synopsis. I found it to be an informative and compelling look at the contacts--both combative and cooperative--between Islam and Christianity throughout the dark ages, medieval era, and beyond. O'Shea's narrative focuses on the subsequent interactions between expanding Islam and embattled (for a time) Christianity in the regions surrounding the Mediterranean, hence the "Sea of Faith" of the title. The story begins with the expansion of Islam in the 7th century following Muhammed's death and finishes with the "final" conflict between Muslims and Christians in the Mediterranean at Malta in the 16th century. In between O'Shea explores many key battles--Yarmuk in AD 636, Manzikert, Hattin, Constantinople, etc., delving into not just the primary conflicts but the various factions dividing each side. An ugly truth glossed over in subsequent legendary accounts on both sides is the fact that in many of these conflicts (and others leading up to them) the two sides were hardly united against their cross-confessional foe. Umayyad vs. Abbasid, Catholic vs. Orthodox Christian, Arab vs. Berber vs. Turk, O'Shea deftly explains the complex back-stories to these near-mythical conflicts.
O'Shea also shines when he explores the "conviviencia" or periods of cooperation and tolerance that also marked Muslim-Christian interactions from 600 onward. Cordoba under the Umayyads and Palermo under the Normans are excellent examples of how these periods of peace produced cultural explosions of phenomenal wealth and splendor, with everything from poetry to science thriving under these conditions.
Overall this is a well-written and well-researched look into a topic of obvious relevance to modern times. If we have any hope of reaching peace in the Middle East, we (and our political leaders) are going to try to figure out how to re-create a metaphorical Cordoba while avoiding a metaphorical Poitiers in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. Anyone looking for a well written and engaging introduction into past interactions between these two faiths that might better help them understand today's conflicts is encouraged to buy this book. I subtracted one star for the many puzzling typos in this edition and for the fact that O'Shea, in his rush to cover such a wide topic and broad time scale, gives short shrift to some of the more prominent personalities involved in these conflicts (Richard the Lionheart, Louis IX, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, and Tamerlane just to name a few).
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22 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Muslim vs Christian, August 13, 2006
This review is from: Sea of Faith: Islam and Christianity in the Medieval Mediterranean World (Hardcover)
"Sea of Faith" describes the relationships among Muslims, Christians, and Jews around the Mediterranean Sea during the Middle Ages.
The book begins with a lucid discription of the life of Mohammad and the rise of Islam and goes on to describe both wars and co-existence between Christians and Muslims. The ten chapters each focus on a specific place or battle: Yarmuk, Poitiers, Cordova, Palermo, Constantinople, and Malta to list a few. The tone throughout is sensible and fair-minded. The author adds personal observations about the present day appearance and situation of each of his historical focal points.
The book is relatively brief -- about 315 pages of text -- and doesn't pretend to be a complete history of Muslim/Christian relations in the Middle East, but I certainly augmented my knowledge by reading the book. For example, I had never realized that Jewish tribes were so widespread -- from Morocco to the steppes of Central Asia -- in the early Middle ages. Their role in history was occasionally important and always interesting. Some of the most vivid parts of the book are the paragraphs about the pious Christian Crusaders killing and eating their captives and his account of the defeat of Crusaders by Saladin. The book is not all about battles, however. The author uses the term "convivencia" to describe the frequent instances of Muslim, Christian, and Jew living together in peace.
The maps in the book are tolerably good; a glossary helps with a lot of unfamiliar names and place names; a few small photographs illustrate the text; and more than 50 pages of notes explain and clarify points in the text. "Sea of Faith" is an excellent and highly-readable account of Muslim and Christian interactions in the Middle Ages
Smallchief
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Best of the Books on the History of Islam-Christian Contact, November 3, 2009
I have read many books on the history of Islam and the contact of Islam with Christian Europe. In my judgment, this is the best overall study. O'Shea is himself a very intelligent writer, and shows a political and human insight into historical situations that is not commonly matched by other writers. The book is organized around a series of relatively decisive events, running from the 700s AD to the 1500s. Each chapter offers a rich development of the context for the event, and overall the sequence of chapters is a compelling story of the history of the Mediterranean world. Informative, insightful, and highly engaging. I recommend it very highly.
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