In 1099; when the first Frankish invaders arrived before the walls of Jerusalem; they had carved out a Christian European presence in the Islamic world that endured for centuries; bolstered by subsequent waves of new crusaders and pilgrims. The story of how this group of warriors; driven by faith; greed; and wanderlust; created new Christian-ruled states in parts of the Middle East is one of the best-known in history. Yet it is offers not even half of the story; for it is based almost exclusively on Western sources and overlooks entirely the perspective of the crusaded. How did medieval Muslims perceive what happened?In The Race for Paradise; Paul M. Cobb offers a new history of the confrontations between Muslims and Franks we now call the "Crusades;" one that emphasizes the diversity of Muslim experiences of the European holy war. There is more to the story than Jerusalem; the Templars; Saladin; and the Assassins. Cobb considers the Arab perspective on all shores of the Muslim Mediterranean; from Spain to Syria. In the process; he shows that this is not a straightforward story of warriors and kings clashing in the Holy Land; but a more complicated tale of border-crossers and turncoats; of embassies and merchants; of scholars and spies; all of them seeking to manage a new threat from the barbarian fringes of their ordered world. When seen from the perspective of medieval Muslims; the Crusades emerge as something altogether different from the high-flying rhetoric of the European chronicles: as a cultural encounter to ponder; a diplomatic chess-game to be mastered; a commercial opportunity to be seized; and as so often happened; a political challenge to be exploited by ambitious rulers making canny use of the language of jihad. An engrossing synthesis of history and scholarship; The Race for Paradise fills a significant historical gap; considering in a new light the events that distinctively shaped Muslim experiences of Europeans until the close of the Middle Ages.
#1233116 in Books Oxford University Press; USA 2013-08-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 6.10 x 1.10 x 9.10l; 1.40 #File Name: 0199311234436 pages
Review
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful. Soviet Baby Boomers: An Oral History of Russia's Cold War GenerationBy Marina BraunAs one of the "Soviet baby-boomers" interviewed by the author; I'd been dying to see the book in print. The result of this fascinating project exceeded my expectations. For me; as it is; I'm sure; for my former classmates; it is a nostalgic trip down memory lane. For an outsider it will be an eye opener. I've lived and worked in the United States for over twenty years and I know from experience that the Americans' view of the Soviet Union is still; by and large; incomplete; at best; or distorted; at worst. Since the end of the Cold War; there appeared quite a few informative publications about the country: its economy; culture; politics; etc. But there was (until now!) a virtual vacuum of accurate information about its people. What makes this book unique is that; drawing from the conversations with numerous Soviet baby boomers; a generation born after a devastating war; it provides a rare insight into their lives; their values and aspirations. It might come as a huge surprise to some Western readers that those were formed not only by the values instilled in them by the country they were born and lived in but also by the Western world that seemingly they were shut off from by the Iron Curtain. Why and how they had access to that world; especially during the tumultuous 60's; why they enthusiastically and wholeheartedly supported Gorbachev's "perestroika" in the 80's is one of the most intriguing; in my view; parts of this amazing book. American baby-boomers are in for a follow-up surprise: despite the differences; they and their Soviet counterparts have a great deal in common. A realization that; I believe; is vital in the world we live in; the world of today and tomorrow.4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Through Don; I discovered a second cousinBy Victor A. BaryFascinating exposure to my age cohort in Russia who experienced the Soviet system and its break-up. The graduates of magnate schools 20 and 42 were raised by parents who had lived through WW II and Stalin's purges and were professionals. Their parents tried their best to provide a better life for their children and to prepare them for career success within the Soviet system. Because both parents worked; in many families the Boomers were also influenced by grandparents and nannies from small villages who cared for them while the parents were at work. The first had fond memories of pre-Revolutionary Russia; and both clung to the old religion. Hard working and careerist; these Boomer succeeded at school and went into the system of guaranteed lifetime jobs. At the same time; they were being infuenced by the Beattles and the bleed-through of western European radio broadcasts; and in some cases; visits to Eastern Bloc satelites where living conditions were much better than in Russia; and there was less state interference in peoples' lives. These windows; and the leg-up their command of English (superior upon their high school graduation to what was offered at the university level); prepared them to start questioning the system; and ulitmately contributed to its demise. It's an interesting book; especially if you have Russian roots and/or are a Babyboomer.We met Don Raleigh on a university alumni river cruise of Russia. I had rewritten my name on my name badge in Cyrillic letters. When Don saw it he said "Vic Bary? I just wrote a book about Soviet Babyboomers and the first woman I interviewed talked about a predecessor with the same last name who was instrumental in the 19th century industrialization of Russia." I replied; "That would be great grandfather Alexander". He got a copy of his book which had a photo of Alexander B. Bary; and I got a photo of a promotional map of Russia which had a photo of Alexander Bary. It was the same photo! Thanks to Don; I've been introduced to my second cousin in Moscow and have been in regular communication with her ever since.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Russia's Baby BoomBy Eric MayforthIt is widely known in the United States that the Baby Boom generation born right after World War II has had (and continues to have) an enormous impact on the country at each stage of its life. Much less known in this country is the fact that our fearsome adversary during much of the twentieth century; the Soviet Union; also had a baby boom at the same time; and that generation impacted Russia greatly as well. Author Donald Raleigh explores that generation of Russians in "Soviet Baby Boomers."Raleigh interviewed dozens of Soviet Boomers born around 1950 from Moscow and Saratov. The childhoods of the interviewees were during the Khrushchev years; a time of changing conditions in the USSR--the author notes both how the times shaped the Baby Boomers and how the Baby Boomers shaped the times. The author describes the family life; education; socialization; summer camps; romances; music; movies; and the covert listening to Western radio broadcasts of Soviet youth then; and describes the reaction of the interviewees to huge events of the Sixties like the Cuban Missile Crisis; the assassination of President Kennedy; and the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia.The Baby Boomers that Raleigh interviewed were from the upper strata of Soviet society; and the author notes how disillusionment with the Soviet system was widespread by the late Brezhnev years. At the time; Americans sometimes naïvely separated Russians into just two camps--fire-breathing Marxists on one hand; and on the other hand heroic dissidents; a few of whom like Alexander Jourjine bravely risked their lives attempting to escape the Soviet Union rather than continue to "live" in a "society" in which millions of innocent people were murdered by the state; in which the state attempted to inject itself into just about every area of life; and in which decisions even as consequential as what you did for a living were made for you.But vast numbers of Russians of the time; including many Baby Boomers; were neither committed Communists nor dissidents; just average people who happened to be born under a squalid regime that was conducting one of the most evil; anti-human experiments in world history and who just tried to muddle their way through a system they knew no longer worked when the stagnation of the 1970s and 1980s set in.Mikhail Gorbachev brought glasnost and perestroika in the mid-Eighties; and the Soviet Union imploded only a few years later. Raleigh offers his opinion of why the country broke up; and the Boomers tell their stories of how they (and some of their marriages) were challenged by the hard economic times that followed in the Nineties.Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin led Russia after the breakup of the USSR; and the book looks at those times and how the Boomers responded to them; and the interviewees offer their thoughts on Russia today. Perhaps the most stark commentary the interviewed Boomers made on life in their home country is the fact that an amazing one-sixth of them emigrated from Russia when they got the chance.The book closes with an appendix that describes where the interviewees are today--many of the subjects of the book led pretty interesting lives. Much examination has been done of the Baby Boomers of America--"Soviet Baby Boomers" is a worthwhile look at their same-age cohorts who were unfortunate enough to have been born in the Evil Empire.
