God's Crucible

In this panoramic history of Islamic culture in early Europe, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Levering Lewis provides a new interpretation of world-alter... » 

In this panoramic history of Islamic culture in early Europe, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Levering Lewis provides a new interpretation of world-altering events whose influence remains as current as today's headlines. At the beginning of the eighth century, the Arabs brought a momentous revolution in power, religion and culture to Dark Ages Europe. Lewis' narrative, filled with accounts of some of the greatest battles in world history, reveals how cosmopolitan, Muslim al-Andalus flourished -a beacon of cooperation and tolerance between Islam, Judaism, and Christianity- while proto-Europe, defining itself in opposition to Islam, made virtues out of hereditary aristocracy, religious intolerance, perpetual war, and slavery. «