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Infidel Kings and Unholy Warriors: Faith, Power, and Violence in the Age of Crusade and Jihad Hardcover – August 26, 2014

by Brian A. Catlos (Author)

19 customer reviews

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"This compelling account of the Crusades era debunks the clash-of-civilizations paradigm in which the period is typically cast... Catlos does not overlook the violence of the period but argues that it was stoked more often by money and power than by religion and ideology."
The New Yorker (6 October 2014)

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An in-depth portrait of the Crusades-era Mediterranean world, and a new understanding of the forces that shaped it

In Infidel Kings and Unholy Warriors, the award-winning scholar Brian Catlos puts us on the ground in the Mediterranean world of 1050-1200. We experience the sights and sounds of the region just as enlightened Islamic empires and primitive Christendom began to contest it. We learn about the siege tactics, theological disputes, and poetry of this enthralling time. And we see that people of different faiths coexisted far more frequently than we are commonly told.
Catlos's meticulous reconstruction of the era allows him to stunningly overturn our most basic assumption about it: that it was defined by religious extremism. He brings to light many figures who were accepted as rulers by their ostensible foes. Samuel B. Naghrilla, a self-proclaimed Jewish messiah, became the force behind Muslim Granada. Bahram Pahlavuni, an Armenian Christian, wielded power in an Islamic caliphate. And Philip of Mahdia, a Muslim eunuch, rose to admiral in the service of Roger II, the Christian "King of Africa."
What their lives reveal is that, then as now, politics were driven by a mix of self-interest, personality, and ideology. Catlos draws a similar lesson from his stirring chapters on the early Crusades, arguing that the notions of crusade and jihad were not causes of war but justifications. He imparts a crucial insight: the violence of the past cannot be blamed primarily on religion.

Infidel Kings and Unholy Warriors: Faith, Power, and Violence in the Age of Crusade and Jihad

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Product Details

Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; First Edition edition (August 26, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0809058375
ISBN-13: 978-0809058372
Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 1.5 x 9.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #416,762 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #48279 in Books > History

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Customer Reviews

3.7 out of 5 stars

5 star		32%
4 star		47%
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1 star		21%

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful

A grand millenial tour of the Mediterranean

By A. Rajamani on October 31, 2014

Format: Hardcover

I have read this book in its entirety and liked it. The overall thesis of the author is quite simple: a thousand years ago when Islam came into contact with European Christianity, there were no grand complications but merely local issues that were dealt with in different ways. There was trade, cultural contacts, friction and the occasional explicitly religious war. For people who are looking for Islam to be portrayed as relentless evil, maybe there are other books. But if you are looking to understand the situation in Spain, Sicily, Egypt and Jerusalem about a thousand years ago, this book will be an interesting read.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

Greed, Self-Interest, and Power in the Era of the Crusades

By James Norwood on March 3, 2015

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

First and foremost, “Infidel Kings and Unholy Warriors” is an extremely detailed and impressive work of scholarship. The strength of author Brian A. Catlos’s work is his mastery of names, biographies, and genealogical charts of people in the Mediterranean basin during the period of the Crusades.

A lucid introduction sets forth the author’s thesis that the crusading era was much more complicated than merely “a clash of civilizations.” By the end of the book, it is clear that Professor Catlos is not taking issue merely with such historians from past eras as Edward Gibbon and Henri Pirenne, but also with the current crop of medievalists who claim in a sweeping, one-word generalization that the Crusades were motivated by “piety.” In the descriptive bibliography, the author identifies the “apologetically flavored works of Riley-Smith…Tyerman, and Madden” (341). But he also alludes to Steven Runciman’s “realist” study, "A History of the Crusades." Catlos’s approach is very much a welcome throwback to Runciman's.

The book's introduction underscores the theme of power—desired and achieved—that affected life in the tumultuous Middle Ages. The violence of the age is painstakingly recounted in ten chapters, progressing geographically from west to east. Four of the chapters address Islamic Spain (al-Andalus), culminating in an overview of the life and world of The Cid. Two chapters focus on Norman Sicily and Northern Africa. Two chapters address Fatimid Egypt. And the final two chapters provide a summary of the people and events in the Levant during the Crusades. The last chapter offers an engaging pairing of the predatory gigolo Reynaud de Chatîllon with the legendary Muslim leader Yusuf ibn Ayyub, who came to be known as Salah al-Din (Saladin).Read more ›

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10 of 13 people found the following review helpful

Baffling

By William H. Coffin on January 22, 2015

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

I really wanted to like this book, especially after another reviewer panned it because it didn't reinforce his preconceived bigotry. Also, I'm very interested in this historical period. However, the book is totally confusing. Mostly, this is because it abandons chronology entirely, so the narrative continually jumps back and forth in time. It becomes impossible to remember the names, because no-one is identified after an initial introduction and there is no linearity in the text. Anyone trying to read this will be baffled, finding themselves thumbing back and forth trying to figure out who's who and when is when.

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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful

Unlike several of the other "reviewers" here, I actually ...

By G.W. on December 4, 2014

Format: Hardcover

Unlike several of the other "reviewers" here, I actually read the book. Very readable and offers ideas that go beyond the simplistic notion that the Crusades and other wars of the period were religion vs. religion. The world isn't that simple now and wasn't that simple then.

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Greed, Self-Interest, and Power in the Era of the Crusades

By James Norwood on July 14, 2015

Format: Hardcover

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

Four Stars

Great history the way it really was!

Published 14 days ago by Richard A. Bruner

Understanding the Middle East

Well written and a fascinating account of the Crusades as a foundation for understanding the conflict in the Middle East today. The glossary alone is well worth a read.

Published 2 months ago by Elizabeth Evans

Four Stars

A great historical novel!!!!

Published 4 months ago by Ra Blaustein

Another bite of the Middle Ages

Everybody knows about the Middle Ages in England and France this book provides the story of these times in Spain and Portugal as well as the Meditteranean

Published 8 months ago by Mair Kelly

Recommended Supplier

Good product; good sevice

Published 9 months ago by El Chinero

One Star

Not quite what it was written up to be.

Published 10 months ago by Italia

An interesting alternative view of a fascinating historical era.

An interesting alternative view of a fascinating historical era. The premise of the book is that the turmoil in the Mediterranean region at the time of, and leading up to, the... Read more

Published 11 months ago by Weatherbird

Informative & well researched

A book that delves into the roots of the present day conflicts in the middle eastern .i have not found a better one.

Published 12 months ago by beachrat31

Four Stars

Lots of dates and people, but the theme gets across.

Published 12 months ago by Bob gibson

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