''The Crusades Through Arab Eyes'' (french: Les Croisades vues par les Arabes) is a
French language
French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...
historical
essay
An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...
by
Lebanese author
.
As the name suggests, the book is a narrative retelling of primary sources drawn from various
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
chronicle
A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and lo ...
s that seeks to provide an Arab perspective on the
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...
, and especially regarding the Crusaders – the (Franj), as the Arabs called them – who were considered cruel, savage, ignorant and culturally backward.
From the
first invasion
''First Invasion'' is the debut EP by South Korean boy band Infinite (South Korean band), Infinite. It was released on June 9, 2010. They promoted the main single of the EP "Come Back Again" and followed with "She's Back (song), She's Back".
Tra ...
in the eleventh century through till the
general collapse of the Crusades in the thirteenth century, the book constructs a narrative that is the reverse of that common in the
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and state (polity), states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania. , describing the main facts as bellicose and displaying situations of a quaint historic setting, where
Western Christians
Western Christianity is one of two sub-divisions of Christianity (Eastern Christianity being the other). Western Christianity is composed of the Latin Church and Western Protestantism, together with their offshoots such as the Old Catholic C ...
are viewed as "
barbarians
A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be less c ...
," and unaware of the most elementary rules of
honor
Honour (British English) or honor (American English; see spelling differences) is the idea of a bond between an individual and a society as a quality of a person that is both of social teaching and of personal ethos, that manifests itself as a ...
,
dignity
Dignity is the right of a person to be valued and respected for their own sake, and to be treated ethically. It is of significance in morality, ethics, law and politics as an extension of the Enlightenment-era concepts of inherent, inalienable ...
and social
ethics
Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...
.
References
*
*
Books about the Crusades
1984 non-fiction books
Works by Amin Maalouf
Arab history
French non-fiction books
Schocken Books books
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