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Praise for "Infidels
""Islam is a power that rose, fell, and rose again. All who wish to know the story will need to read Andrew Wheatcroft's compelling work."
--JOHN KEEGAN
"Wheatcroft has written an excellent and truly remarkable book. He reminds us of something vital, and too often forgotten: Most of those who were 100 percent sure that the infidels--call them Saracens, Agarenes, Ishmaelites, or Turks--were completely savage and barbarous had never met or seen a Saracen or a Turk in their lives. Somehow they just knew that these aliens should be hated and feared. As a promoter of dialogue between East and West, I agree with Wheatcroft--that unfortunately, now just as much as in the past, it is media outlets and the spreading of false knowledge that promote hostility."
--HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCE EL HASSAN BIN TALAL OF JORDAN
"Rattling good reading . . . [Wheatcroft's] humane conclusion is admirable."
--FELIPE FERNANDEZ-ARMESTO, "The" "Sunday Times "(London)
"Gripping, often blood-curdling, history. . . recounted with tremendous literary flair."
--JOHN ADAMSON, "The" "Sunday Telegraph "(London)
""Islam is a power that rose, fell, and rose again. All who wish to know the story will need to read Andrew Wheatcroft's compelling work."
--JOHN KEEGAN
"Wheatcroft has written an excellent and truly remarkable book. He reminds us of something vital, and too often forgotten: Most of those who were 100 percent sure that the infidels--call them Saracens, Agarenes, Ishmaelites, or Turks--were completely savage and barbarous had never met or seen a Saracen or a Turk in their lives. Somehow they just knew that these aliens should be hated and feared. As a promoter of dialogue between East and West, I agree with Wheatcroft--that unfortunately, now just as much as in the past, it is media outlets and the spreading of false knowledge that promote hostility."
--HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCE EL HASSAN BIN TALAL OF JORDAN
"Rattling good reading . . . [Wheatcroft's] humane conclusion is admirable."
--FELIPE FERNANDEZ-ARMESTO, "The" "Sunday Times "(London)
"Gripping, often blood-curdling, history. . . recounted with tremendous literary flair."
--JOHN ADAMSON, "The" "Sunday Telegraph "(London)
"From the Hardcover edition."
Product Description
How did we learn to hate or despise? Simply, because we were taught to.
In 638 the Christian Patriarch of the Holy city of Jerusalem called the Muslim Caliph's presence an abomination in the sight of God. Christians and Muslims have since regarded each other warily and have silently thought of each other as 'infidels.'
This book traces the long history of this troubled relationship. It was a campaign without end, waged with the pen, through the printing press, by the power of the human voice and on sublte and insidious suggestions with paintings, drawings and engravings. In this brilliant book we see how and why a battle is still being waged today, through the press, books, television, radio and the internet.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A thoroughly enjoyable read that sheds light on the relation between Islam and Christianity. My recommendation for everyone who reads this book is to do so whilst leaving theological issues and your own religious views out of it. The book looks at Christendom and 'Islamdom'; in other words it is neither for nor against either faith, rather, it is concerned with the institutionalized manifestations of these faiths... manifestations that are all too often overshadowed by political considerations and outright hypocricy.
7 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Starting with an account of the great sea battle of Lepanto between the galleys of Europe and the Turks, the author surveys the whole of the history of conflict with Islam up to the present day. He perceptively put Christendom not Christianity as a participant in the conflict which today ends with a secular West versus Islam.
The author has some Christian family history but little sympathy with the faith. He is a secularist who rightly says the Enlightenment never reached Islam. But his only appeal is then to reason, ever the inadequate refuge of the liberal, for the reform of Islam. He has no concept of a spiritual battle taking place and criticizes those who do. I do though agree that the word crusade should have no part in the evangelistic vocabulary of Christians today.
He regards G W Bush as a sincere Christian who is not a master of communication, hence some faux pas in talking about the response to Islamist threats.
I also enjoyed the book for filling me in on the history of Spain and Islam as well as conflict in the Balkans.
The author has some Christian family history but little sympathy with the faith. He is a secularist who rightly says the Enlightenment never reached Islam. But his only appeal is then to reason, ever the inadequate refuge of the liberal, for the reform of Islam. He has no concept of a spiritual battle taking place and criticizes those who do. I do though agree that the word crusade should have no part in the evangelistic vocabulary of Christians today.
He regards G W Bush as a sincere Christian who is not a master of communication, hence some faux pas in talking about the response to Islamist threats.
I also enjoyed the book for filling me in on the history of Spain and Islam as well as conflict in the Balkans.
5 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
As other reviewers have pointed out,Mr Wheatcroft is too selective to have produced a balanced account of the conflict between Islam and Christendom.
Not only does he gloss over the sieges of Malta and Vienna,he omits the 904 sack of Thessalonika,with 20,000 enslaved by the Arabs or the over 1,000,000 Europeans enslaved by Moslem raiders between 700 and 1800 A.D.
The conclusion of the book should have been that the West has been more sinned against than sinning and its fears of Islam are,and continue to be,shaped by bitter experience rather than stereotyping.
Not only does he gloss over the sieges of Malta and Vienna,he omits the 904 sack of Thessalonika,with 20,000 enslaved by the Arabs or the over 1,000,000 Europeans enslaved by Moslem raiders between 700 and 1800 A.D.
The conclusion of the book should have been that the West has been more sinned against than sinning and its fears of Islam are,and continue to be,shaped by bitter experience rather than stereotyping.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
An impressive body of work
I must say that the author really has gone to great lengths to do his research and formulate his thesis on the subject of the friction between islam and the christian west. Read more
Published 16 months ago by RMTooting
Disappointing
The author presents the conflict between Chrisendom and Islam based on 3 historical confrontations - Spain, the Crusades & the Balkans. Read more
Published on 22 Dec 2005 by "rikamsterdam"
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