God of Battles - Softcover

Peter Partner

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0006384277 ISBN 13: 9780006384274

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 1998

Synopsis

Peter Partner examines the ways in which the concept of holy war - the jihad of the East and the crusade of the West - came to acquire its symbolic power, and how this still affects the modern world. He shows how the ideal of the crusade permeated Western attitudes and beliefs, and discusses the modernity or otherwise of today's Islamic fundamentalist movements, which so alarm the Western world. He reveals how present-day Islamic reformers have actually borrowed the vocabulary of fundamentalism from Western sources, and discusses ways in which they have interpreted (and occasionally put into practice) the idea of holy war. Above all, this text investigates the reasons behind the fear which Islamic fundamentalism excites in the West, and warns against allowing views that ultimately derive from 11th-century propaganda to influence us today.

About this title

About the Author

Peter Partner worked for many years as a journalist for The Observer (for whom he wrote the leading article in the first week of the Suez Crisis) and The Economist, among other publications. His books include The Lands of St. Peter: The Papal State in the Middle Ages, The Murdered Magicians: The Templars and Their Myth, and The Pope's Men: The Papal Civil Service in the Renaissance.

Review

'Excellent. Should be required reading for the Middle East desks in the State Department and the Foreign Office' Andrew Wheatcroft, Sunday Times 'Partner's conclusions will make it impossible for his readers ever again to swallow the bromides of waffling politicians or saloon-bar know-alls' Frank McLynn, Glasgow Herald 'Admirable. As an appeal to understanding it is greatly to be commended' David Edgar, Irish Times

About this edition

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0006384277
• ISBN 13: 9780006384274
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 496