"Raymond Ibrahim's Sword and Scimitar is a much-needed history of landmark battles between Islam and the West, . . . [a] first-rate military history and a product of solid scholarship and philological research."―from the Foreword by Victor Davis Hanson, Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution
"Impressively informative, Sword and Scimitar is an exceptional work of outstanding scholarship that is so well written it reads more like a deftly crafted novel than a non-fiction history."―Midwest Book Review
"With passion, Raymond Ibrahim offers an edgy and eye-opening introduction to a millennium of warfare between the Muslim and Christian worlds before the modern age."―Thomas Madden, award-winning author of Istanbul, Venice, and Concise History of the Crusades
"[A] superbly written volume, making extensive use of primary sources from both sides, especially underutilized Arabic language sources... Enlightening for readers unfamiliar with the long history of war between these two faiths."―New York Journal of Books
"Raymond Ibrahim has the humility to take seriously the voices and opinions of history's Christians and Muslims; the result is a refreshingly honest account of Islamic expansion and Christian reaction that provides useful insights into today's problems. This is history as it should be done: allowing the past to inform and guide the present, rather than distorting the past to fit contemporary political ideologies."―Paul F. Crawford, Crusades historian, California University of Pennsylvania
"Sword and Scimitar altered the way I understand the development of our civilization....Ibrahim tells this history vividly, clearly, and engagingly."―American Thinker
"This magisterial work is a lucid, remarkably compendious, yet still richly detailed study of the 1400-year ongoing ebb and flow of Islamic jihad conquests or preparatory attacks―and the Christian West's reconquests or reprisals... A skilled Arabic linguist and student of military history, perhaps the outstanding achievement of Ibrahim's compelling narrative is how it shatters contemporary 'academia's' rigidly enforced, dogmatic Islamophilia... [S]hould be requisite reading for all serious U.S. policymakers, diplomats, and politicians."―Dr. Andrew G. Bostom, author of The Legacy of Jihad
"[A] riveting military history of eight pivotal battles between the armies of Islamdom and Christendom. Ibrahim tells his story with extensive citations of primary sources which vividly bring to life the bloody fighting. Moreover, his method reveals the religious, political, and material motivations of the leading Christian and Muslim actors in this enduring conflict of visions that seem so very different from many modern western secular sensibilities."―James E. Lindsay, Professor of Middle East History, Colorado State University
"An accessible and well-researched examination of extremely important but often neglected cultural phenomena and historical events that have impacted several civilizations up to the present day."―Darío Fernández-Morera, Northwestern University and author of The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise
"A riveting account of the major battles between Islam and the West... Detailed, well-researched and most welcome."―Catholic World Report
"Ibrahim has written a brilliant history... He reveals an enduring asymmetry between inherently aggressive Muslims and inherently defensive Christians―and shows how that pattern precisely persists to this day."―Daniel Pipes, president of the Middle East Forum
"[P]uts to rest several important myths... Against today's wishful thinking about Islam's peaceful intentions, Sword and Scimitar documents 'what Muslims have actually done to and in the West for centuries.'"―Crisis Magazine
[Reviews added on availability.]