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A review by wyntrchylde
The Crusades Through Arab Eyes by Amin Maalouf
informative
medium-paced
3.0
The Crusades Through Arab Eyes
Author: Amin Maalouf
Publisher: Schocken Books
Publishing Date: 1984
=======================
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Why this book:
Makes a fascinating juxtaposed view to what is usually presented in Western realms from our own perspective.
_________________
Hmm Moments:
So many of the successful leaders of the Muslims in opposing the Franj were felled by the hands of people in their entourages. Body servants, nobles, people who approach them on the street, etc, the knives are all about. Some of those were of the sect of the Assassins, but most were just people wronged for this reason or that reason or acting for an outside power, usually another Muslim leader.
Uhm Moments:
Wish the various Franj invasions and adventurism was associated with whichever Crusade they were part of, but it is on brand that it isn't since those names wouldn't mean anything from the Muslim perspective.
Apropos of Nothing and Everything:
Louis the IX of France and Ayuub of Egypt sending messages filled with strident purple prose threats back and forth reminds me of Monty Python and the Holy Grail when the Frenchmen in their castle won’t treat with Graham Chapman’s King Arthur. IYKYK.
Juxtaposition:
I never connected Genghis Khan’s later life with the Crusades. Timeline-wise, he was a definite influence on events and Muslim and Franj conquest adventurism in his driving of some conquered Turks before him into Muslim lands. These impacts lasted beyond Genghis’s life into those of his heirs.
_________________
Pacing:
Well paced.
Last Page Sound:
Interesting.
Questions I’m Left With:
From a cultural/historical and Arabic perspective, did the Crusades ever end? Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt, the post-WW1 era of French and British Mandates and every invasion and action by Western powers in the region all being seen as merely the latest iteration of the Crusades?
Author: Amin Maalouf
Publisher: Schocken Books
Publishing Date: 1984
=======================
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Why this book:
Makes a fascinating juxtaposed view to what is usually presented in Western realms from our own perspective.
_________________
Hmm Moments:
So many of the successful leaders of the Muslims in opposing the Franj were felled by the hands of people in their entourages. Body servants, nobles, people who approach them on the street, etc, the knives are all about. Some of those were of the sect of the Assassins, but most were just people wronged for this reason or that reason or acting for an outside power, usually another Muslim leader.
Uhm Moments:
Wish the various Franj invasions and adventurism was associated with whichever Crusade they were part of, but it is on brand that it isn't since those names wouldn't mean anything from the Muslim perspective.
Apropos of Nothing and Everything:
Louis the IX of France and Ayuub of Egypt sending messages filled with strident purple prose threats back and forth reminds me of Monty Python and the Holy Grail when the Frenchmen in their castle won’t treat with Graham Chapman’s King Arthur. IYKYK.
Juxtaposition:
I never connected Genghis Khan’s later life with the Crusades. Timeline-wise, he was a definite influence on events and Muslim and Franj conquest adventurism in his driving of some conquered Turks before him into Muslim lands. These impacts lasted beyond Genghis’s life into those of his heirs.
_________________
Pacing:
Well paced.
Last Page Sound:
Interesting.
Questions I’m Left With:
From a cultural/historical and Arabic perspective, did the Crusades ever end? Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt, the post-WW1 era of French and British Mandates and every invasion and action by Western powers in the region all being seen as merely the latest iteration of the Crusades?