 |
|
Title: Sea of Faith: Islam and Christianity in the Medieval Mediterranean World
ISBN: 0802715176
Author:
Stephen O'Shea
Publicate Date: 2007-05-29
Publish: 2007-05-29
List Price: $17.00
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Paperback
 |
|
|
|
|
Amazon Lowest New Price: $9.00
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $2.97
Amazon Merchant Price: $13.60
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Customer Review: |
|
1: A Sea of Reading Pleasure
This has got to be the most pleasurable history book I have ever read. So wonderful is O'Shea's writing style that my previously dormant desire for history books has been revitalized and I'm ordering several more history books to gorge on. I am remembering now why I was a history major in college.
As to the book - O'Shea discusses a wide swath of time from the rise of Islam to the Siege of Malta in 1565, all focusing on the monumental struggle, and at times cooperation (or convivencia), between the two major faiths - Islam and Christianity.
O'Shea adumbrates this struggle by focusing on the Mare Nostrum - the Roman term for the Mediterranean ("the Sea of Faith") - via the episodic but epochal battles that proved the turning points in the balance of power, such as Yarmuk, Manzikert, Hattin, Las Novas de Tolosa, the 1453 annihilation of the Byzantines and the successful defense of Malta against overwhelming odds.
Although the story focuses on these punctuated episodes, O'Shea successfully weaves the story together around the overall themes by fleshing out the linear connections between the battles and major players.
Thankfully, this is not merely a military history book, though his descriptions, particularly of 1187, 1453 and 1565, had me literally on the edge of my seat feeling out of breath from the sheer thrill of human heroism and stupidity. Jean Parisot de la Valette - wow what a genius! Raynald of Ch??tillon - what a lout!
No, this is also a story that most Westerners are ignorant of because it demonstrates incontrovertibly that Islam was no backwards, primitive, barbarian civilization.
I know it is difficult to swallow, but the truth is that the Muslims were further advanced than the Christian West for several centuries in learning, in philosophy, in technology, in mathematics, in architecture, and, yes, even in tolerance towards other religions. Saladin, Mehmet The Conqueror, and later Suleiman the Magnificent showed magnanimity that was sorely lacking from the Christians.
O'Shea brilliantly points out that even words like algebra, algorithm, arsenal, traffic, and cheque are borrowed Arabic terms. I did not know this but am thankful for knowing it now.
This is a must read book for those interested in medieval history, Islamic history, and those just wanting a really great story chockful of well-researched facts. You may also need a dictionary handy because O'Shea has a refreshingly prodigious vocabulary.
My only complaint is that O'Shea uses endnotes based on book pages, which means you do not know there is an endnote unless you spend time looking at the back of the book. There are a lot of gems in there but it is an awkward way to locate them.
|
2: When the Mediterraneum was the center of the world
The Mediterrarranean was the place where two different faiths have used it for the war and for the mutual enrichment .It was a large period of universal history where this sea like the center of world ,with the growing and the death of great peeples and civilizations . Muslim Spain ,
so important in the dark years of western middle age , Genova and Venice
whose enrichment was due to the existence of two different faiths , Byzantium , with a very difficult future between the power of the west and Rome , by one side , and the stronger role of Ottoman empire , and this Ottoman empire , a very important ruler in Europe up to XVIII century . So many things to tell in a simple and accessible way...
|
3: a masterpiece of popular history and a meditation on imperial ambition
This book is a labor of love: you can feel the author's fascination with the subject, which he pursued with a passion that is rarely found in academia. The result is a highly readable, informative, and exciting history of the battle for the Meditarranean, between a succession of Christian and Moslem empires. If you want to know about the origins of Islam, the eclectic culture of southern Spain, the Crusades, or the rise and containment of the Ottoman Empire, this is the ideal place ot start.
The story revolves around the Mediterranean Sea, when the Roman empire has broken down with the exception of Byzantium in the East. There is an unforeseen development - the founding of a new monotheistic faith, the Islam of Mohammed - that releases extraordinary energy, both intellectual and empire-building. In spite of a serious schism (Sunni v. Shiite) and lack of political unity, the Moslem armies sweep across Northern Africa and into the heart of Western Europe in less than 2 centuries. Over the next 800 years, incessant war results that can be called east-west, but also civil insurrections of huge proportion. THere is a great flowering of civilization and learning, with many mythic figures from Saladin the Kurd to el Cid, a soldier of fortune in Spain. The author dissects these stories, seeking the truth and filling in the blanks with wonderful detail, eventually ending the story when the Atlantic begins to replace the Mediterranean as the world's center of commerce. The sweep is dazzling.
What is truly astounding is the density of the writer's style. He explains the competing religious doctrines, the mechanics of warfare in each age, and the political deals worked out to allow the various faiths at times to co-exist. Unlike many travel history books, you never feel that the author glosses over anything or that he based his work on cursory research. Instead, he continually displays genuine depth of understanding of the human condition and the grand movements of history. Nonetheless, he does describe what the places of great battles are like now, in vivid and often ironic detail. It is a true and constant delight.
The most important thing I took away from this book was the contrast of Islam - as a rising, eclectic, relatively tolerant, and dynamic force - with the long decline of Western Europe as the remnants of the Roman Empire fell to Germanic tribes (approx 400 to 1000 a.d.). Islamic scholars did far more to preserve and extend classical culture, and offered a tolerance lacking in Christendom, the convivencia, in which Jews, Moslems, and Christians co-existed and added to their repective cultures through trade and discourse. While the author does not judge any of the competing empires, you feel his esteem for the Moslems of that time. The Christians appear less tolerant and cultured, with the exception of the ever-shrinking Byzantine Empire (a neglected part of the Dark Ages, which we tend to see, with bias, as a mediocre precursor to Renaissance Italy). In this day and age, as extremism rises on both sides, this is a welcome perspective and invaluable context.
I was utterly rivetted by this elegantly written book from the moment I cracked the cover. This is one of the best works of popular history I have ever read - every page made me want to explore more deeply in the primary sources the author quotes.
Highest recommendation.
|
4: Both enjoyable and enlightening history
In doing research on my latest historical novel Rashi's Daughters, Book II: Miriam, I consulted dozens of books about how medieval Jews lived and interacted with their Christian and Moslem neighbors. This is one of the best. The facts and history are there, but O'Shea's writing style is never boring or heavy-handed. He makes the whole topic fascinating and the historical players all too human.
|
5: Snapshots of Christian/Islamic History
In this age where conflict in the Middle East has taken center stage, it is not a surprise to find more and more popular books being published on the historical interaction between Christianity and Islam. What is less common and more pleasant to find is a book that doesn't have an obvious political ax to grind. In Sea of Faith, Stephen O'Shea has written such a book.
Let's be clear: this book is by no means complete in its coverage of the Christian/Islam conflict over the centuries. First, O'Shea limits himself to "the medieval Mediterranean world." In fact, this book is essentially a series of battle snapshots from Yarmuk in 636 to Malta in 1565. Some are Christian victories and some are Muslim but they each represented a fundamental shift in the back-and-forth between world powers masquerading as religious faith, though some of the names and places will probably be less familiar than others.
Still, if all this book achieved was a mapping of battles it wouldn't be nearly as interesting; however, O'Shea does a bit more. He uses the battles as a jumping off point to cover a lot of ground and links up the process that leads from battle to battle. He also takes a break periodically to point out places where Christians and Muslims lived in peace to the benefit of all with chapters on Cordoba, Palermo, Toledo and what O'Shea calls "the sea of faith"--Mediterranean ports where Christians and Muslims worked to trade together.
Overall, there's not much that's new here to someone who has read much in this area of history. Any yet, O'Shea uses his conceit well and tells interesting tales. For someone who is interested in well-written popular history that doesn't often slide into opinion and commentary on today's world, this book is an excellent choice.
|
|
|
|
|
