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History Reference Center
Full-text articles to support research in history and genealogy and lesson plans to support student learning.
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No religion in the modern world is as feared and misunderstood as Islam. It haunts the popular imagination as an extreme faith that promotes terrorism, authoritarian government, female oppression, and civil war. In a vital revision of this narrow view of Islam and a distillation of years of thinking and writing about the subject, Karen Armstrong's short history demonstrates that the world's fastest-growing faith is a much more complex phenomenon than...
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"The Mongol Storm is an epic account of violent conflict unfolding against the vibrant backdrop of the Seljuk Turks' magnificent garden palaces, mighty Crusader fortresses, Egyptian pyramids, Damascus' sprawling markets, and the vast Mongol wagon cities. Vividly written and vast in scope, it completely revises our understanding of the Mongols and the world of the Middle Ages"--
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What was life really like for everyday people in the Islamic Golden Age? In this detailed exploration of daily life in one of history's greatest civilizations, readers will use primary sources and information from archeological discoveries to discover fascinating insights and debunk popular myths. Immersive timelines, maps and references to important people and events will bring children on a time-traveling journey through the ancient Islamic world....
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Relates the story, told by a monk named Notker the Stammerer, of how the Emperor Charlemagne sent an ambassador to Baghdad, the center of the Muslim world, to learn about the great ruler in the East, Haroun al Rashid. Includes notes on the factual basis of the story.
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"Founded on Christmas Day 1119 in Jerusalem, the Knights Templar was a religious order of fighting knights dedicated to defending the Holy Land and Christian pilgrims in the decades after the First Crusade. Legendary for their bravery and dedication, the Templars became one of the wealthiest and most powerful bodies of the medieval world-- and the chief defenders against the growing Muslim military campaign to reimpose foreign rule on a Christian...
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"In 1119, the people of the Near East came together in an epic clash of horses, swords, sand, and blood that would decide the fate of the city of the Aleppo-and the eastern Crusader states. Fought between tribal Turkish warriors on steppe ponies, Arab foot soldiers, Armenian bowmen, and European knights, the battlefield was the amphitheatre into which the people of Eurasia poured their full gladiatorial might. Carrying a piece of the true cross before...
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The evolution of the Arab empire is one of the supreme narratives of ancient history, a story dazzlingly rich in drama, character, and achievement. In this exciting and sweeping history-the third in his trilogy of books on the ancient world-Tom Holland describes how the Arabs emerged to carve out a stupefyingly vast dominion in a matter of decades, overcoming seemingly insuperable odds to create an imperial civilization. With profound bearing on the...
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Retraces two critical centuries of Middle Eastern history, presents an intriguing chronicle of the Crusades, and offers insights into the forces that shape Arab and Islamic consciousness today.
"European and Arab versions of the Crusades have little in common. What the West remembers as an epic effort to reconquer the Holy Land in portrayed here as a brutal, destructive unprovoked invasion by Barbarian hordes. When, under Saladin, a powerful Muslim...
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In the year 800, Pope Leo III placed the crown of imperial Rome on a Germanic king named Karl. Thus, the man later hailed as Charlemagne claimed his empire and forever shaped the destiny of Europe. Transporting readers far beyond Europe to the glittering palaces of Constantinople and the streets of medieval Baghdad, this far-ranging book shows how the Frankish king and his wise counselors built an empire not only through warfare but also by careful...
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"Saladin remains one of the most iconic figures of his age. As the man who united the Arabs and saved Islam from Christian crusaders in the twelfth century, he is the Islamic world's preeminent hero. A ruthless defender of his faith and brilliant leader, he also possessed qualities that won admiration from his Christian foes. But Saladin is far more than a historical hero. Builder, literary patron, and theologian, he is a man for all times, and a...
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The fifteenth century Council of Constance ends the Catholic Church's papal schism and sets Europe on its path to the Renaissance in this in-depth history.
At the dawn of the fifteenth century, the Ottoman Empire posed an existential threat to Christian Europe. Meanwhile, the Catholic Church was in chaos, with three Popes claiming the Chair of Saint Peter and dangerous stirrings of reform. In an attempt to save the Christian world, Emperor Sigismund...
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Islam quintet volume 2
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A novel on the crusades from the Moslem point of view. The hero is the desert warrior, Saladin, who became sultan of Egypt and retook Jerusalem from the Christians in 1187. A tale of international intrigue and romance by a British writer, author of Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree.
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A sweeping history of the often-violent conflict between Islam and the West, shedding a revealing light on current hostilities
The West and Islam-the sword and scimitar-have clashed since the mid-seventh century, when, according to Muslim tradition, the Roman emperor rejected Prophet Muhammad's order to abandon Christianity and convert to Islam, unleashing a centuries-long jihad on Christendom.
Sword and Scimitar chronicles the
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