"One of the greatest authorities on medieval Islam" sheds "immensely stimulating" new light on cross-cultural relations in the Middle Ages ( Times Literary Supplement, UK).In Jews, Christians, and the Abode of Islam, historian Jacob Lassner examines the relationship between the three Abrahamic faiths that defined their political and cultural interaction during the Middle Ages—and continues to define them today. Examining the debates taking place i...

Pedagogical resource to help faculty prepare courses on the Arab-Israeli conflict in any discipline.The Arab-Israeli conflict has become a touchstone of international politics and a flash point on college campuses. And yet, how do faculty teach such a contentious topic in class? Taught not only in international relations, peace and conflict resolution, politics and history, and Israel and Middle Eastern studies courses but also in literature, sociology, urban plann...

How is the complex history of the ancient Near East and Islamic World brought to bear in contemporary political discourse?In this book, Medieval Near Eastern historian Jacob Lassner explores the resonance of ancient and medieval history in the political disputes that dominate the contemporary Middle East.From identification with ancient forbears as a method of legitimization and nation-building, to tracing the deep history of the concept of revolution in the Arab world, the...

Medieval Jerusalem examines an old question that has recently surfaced and given rise to spirited discussion among Islamic historians and archeologists: what role did a city revered for its holiness play in the unfolding politics of the early Islamic period? Was there an historic moment when the city, holy to Jews, Christians, and Muslims, may have been considered as the administrative center of a vast Islamic world, as some scholars on early Islam have recently claimed? Medie...

Jews and Muslims in the Arab World highlights the effects of historical memory on the Arab-Israel conflict, demonstrating that both Jews and Arabs use stories of distant pasts to create their identities and shape their politics. Whether real or imagined, the past filtered through their collective memories has had and will continue to have enormous influence on how Jews and Arabs perceive themselves and each other. Jews and Muslims in the Arab World describes the ways in which the past is a...

"The rise and fall of transatlantic puritanism is told through political, theological, and personal conflict in this exceptional history." ( Publishers Weekly, starred review)Begun in the mid-sixteenth century by Protestant nonconformists keen to reform England's church and society while saving their own souls, the puritan movement was a major catalyst in the great cultural changes that transformed the early modern world. Providing a uniquely broad transatl...

"A wealth of knowledge . . . For every incident, chasing Kornilov or dealing with Admiral Kolchak, the reader has a 360-degree view." — Roads to the Great WarThe Russian Civil War was one of the most fateful of the 20th century's military conflicts, a bloody three-year struggle whose outcome saw the establishment of a totalitarian communist regime within the former Russian Empire. As such, it commands the attention of the military specialist and layman alik...

"An ethical and accessible introduction to a historical period often implicated in racist narratives of nationalism and imperialism." —Sierra Lomuto, Assistant Professor of Global Medieval Literature, Rowan UniversityA collection of twenty-two essays, Whose Middle Ages? gives nonspecialists access to the richness of our historical knowledge while debunking damaging misconceptions about the medieval past. Myths about the medieval period are especially belove...

A noted linguist examines extinct languages, from Egyptian hieroglyphs to the mysteries of as-yet undeciphered writings, in this scholarly work.While certain ancient languages were passed down continuously through the ages, many others were ignored for centuries. When scholars began to decipher these extinct languages in the early nineteenth century, they uncovered previously inaccessible riches of knowledge and history. Yet much work remains to be done on undeciphe...

This "taut narrative" of the fourteenth-century conflict between England and France offers "a detailed, climactic account of a legendary battle" ( Publishers Weekly).The epic fourteenth-century Battle of Poitiers marked a major turn in the Hundred Years' War between England and France. Prince Edward, known to all as the Black Prince, not only won a surprising victory in his first campaign as commander, but managed the nearly impossible feat of taking the F...

"This crisply written, well-documented account . . . examines diplomatic, military, political and economic developments in a crucial period leading up to WWII" ( Publishers Weekly)All Against All is the story of how a single winter, between November 1932 and April 1933, put the postwar world back on the path to global conflict. Historian Paul Jankowski reveals how domestic passions within various nations colluded to drive their governments towards...

"A lively survey…her research and insights make us conscious of how we, today, use books."—John Sutherland, The New York Times Book ReviewTwo centuries before the advent of radio, television, and motion pictures, books were a cherished form of popular entertainment and an integral component of domestic social life. In this fascinating and vivid history, Abigail Williams explores the ways in which shared reading shaped the lives and literary culture of the e...