Jamieson Alan G.

Faith and Sword gives a concise history of what has arguably been the longest conflict in human history - a conflict that continues, in a new form, to this day. The overtly religious Christian-Muslim struggle lasted for nearly thirteen centuries, and for most of that period the Muslims were in the ascendant. The Christians eventually halted the tide of Arab conquest, but their counterstroke in the Crusades ended in failure and the Muslim threat was renewed by the Ottoman Turks. Only after 1600 did the Christians finally begin to gain the upper hand, with the fall of the Ottoman empire after the First World War seeming to mark the final victory of the Christians. Between 1918 and 1979, however, the Christian-Muslim conflict continued, but in a less obviously religious form. Christendom became the largely secularised West, and Muslim success in throwing off European colonialism owed more to secular nationalists than religious leaders. After the Iranian revolution of 1979 the picture changed again: religious fundamentalism revived on the Muslim side and the USA became its principal target.Today the USA has never been more militarily dominant, yet it is rendered insecure by a tiny minority of religious militants whose outlook is said to have been superseded by the march of history. Alan G. Jamieson provides a wide-ranging and detailed survey of this conflict through all its stages, and shows how the present situation has emerged. He ranges widely in time, from the original Arab conquests in the seventh century to the present conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. All areas of conflict are included, from Morocco to Indonesia, and from Russia to Somalia. This authoritative and readable study will appeal equally to scholars, students and the general reader, giving an accessible introduction to one of the most important conflicts of our time.

The modern increase of piracy in the waters east and south of Somalia has led some commentators to call the area the 'new Barbary'. But what of the 'old Barbary', where from around 1500 to 1800 Muslim corsairs sallied forth to capture Christian ships? For over three hundred years the corsairs of North Africa were the terror of the Mediterranean and beyond, and during that period they are estimated to have captured and enslaved more than a million Christians. The Barbary corsairs began as the maritime vanguard of the Ottoman Turkish empire, the Muslim superpower of the time. They served as a vital component of the main Ottoman fleet, as well as conducting their own independent raiding of Christian shipping and territory. Lords of the Sea covers the dramatic initial impact of the corsairs in the early 1500s, and their eventual breaking from Ottoman control in the early seventeenth century. During this time they rose to the apogee of their powers, extending their activities from the Mediterranean into the Atlantic, venturing as far as England, Ireland and Iceland. They were combatted by the major European sea powers in the second half of the 1600s, and although their activities declined after 1700, it was only in the early nineteenth century that Europe and the new United States of America finally curbed the Barbary corsair menace, culminating in the French conquest of Algiers in 1830. An engrossing tale of piracy, maritime conquest, slavery and exploration, this colourful account will appeal to the wide audience for maritime and general history.

Faith and Sword gives a concise history of what has arguably been the longest conflict in human history - a conflict that continues, in a new form, to this day. The overtly religious Christian-Muslim struggle lasted for nearly thirteen centuries, and for most of that period the Muslims were in the ascendant. The Christians eventually halted the tide of Arab conquest, but their counterstroke in the Crusades ended in failure and the Muslim threat was renewed by the Ottoman Turks. Only after 1600 did the Christians finally begin to gain the upper hand, with the fall of the Ottoman empire after the First World War seeming to mark the final victory of the Christians. Between 1918 and 1979, however, the Christian-Muslim conflict continued, but in a less obviously religious form. Christendom became the largely secularised West, and Muslim success in throwing off European colonialism owed more to secular nationalists than religious leaders. After the Iranian revolution of 1979 the picture changed again: religious fundamentalism revived on the Muslim side and the USA became its principal target. Today the USA has never been more militarily dominant, yet it is rendered insecure by a tiny minority of religious militants whose outlook is said to have been superseded by the march of history. Alan G. Jamieson provides a wide-ranging and detailed survey of this conflict through all its stages, and shows how the present situation has emerged. He ranges widely in time, from the original Arab conquests in the seventh century to the present conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. All areas of conflict are included, from Morocco to Indonesia, and from Russia to Somalia. This authoritative and readable study will appeal equally to scholars, students and the general reader, giving an accessible introduction to one of the most important conflicts of our time.