ebooks Their Right to Speak: Women's Activism in the Indian and Slave Debates by Alisse Portnoy in History

Description

God's War offers a sweeping new vision of one of history's most astounding events: the Crusades. From 1096 to 1500; European Christians fought to recreate the Middle East; Muslim Spain; and the pagan Baltic in the image of their God. The Crusades are perhaps both the most familiar and most misunderstood phenomena of the medieval world; and here Christopher Tyerman seeks to recreate; from the ground up; the centuries of violence committed as an act of religious devotion. The result is a stunning reinterpretation of the Crusades; revealed as both bloody political acts and a manifestation of a growing Christian communal identity. Tyerman uncovers a system of belief bound by aggression; paranoia; and wishful thinking; and a culture founded on war as an expression of worship; social discipline; and Christian charity. This astonishing historical narrative is imbued with figures that have become legends--Saladin; Richard the Lionheart; Philip Augustus. But Tyerman also delves beyond these leaders to examine the thousands and thousands of Christian men--from Knights Templars to mercenaries to peasants--who; in the name of their Savior; abandoned their homes to conquer distant and alien lands; as well as the countless people who defended their soil and eventually turned these invaders back. With bold analysis; Tyerman explicates the contradictory mix of genuine piety; military ferocity; and plain greed that motivated generations of Crusaders. He also offers unique insight into the maturation of a militant Christianity that defined Europe's identity and that has forever influenced the cyclical antagonisms between the Christian and Muslim worlds. Drawing on all of the most recent scholarship; and told with great verve and authority; God's War is the definitive account of a fascinating and horrifying story that continues to haunt our contemporary world.