Vienna's Last Jihad - Softcover

Dawson, C. Wayne

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1490426345 ISBN 13: 9781490426341

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013

Synopsis

Brash and brilliant, twenty year old Mathis Zieglar, Professor of Languages, faces an agonizing choice. Should he fight the Turks who take his family hostage and move to destroy Vienna? Or should he betray his army to save his kin? One by one, Muslim agents murder Mathis’ closest associates in an attempt to isolate him from his comrades. As 138,000 Turks grind down Vienna’s 11,000 defenders with no relief in sight, Mathis’ only chance to save family and country is to use his ability to speak Tartar and the knack he learned as a child to leap, whirl and strike. Foreword to Vienna’s Last Jihad, by Stephen O. Fought, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus and Former Dean of Academics, Air War College. Dawson’s characters leap from the page, orient the reader, and immediately begin to unfold the drama of Vienna’s Last Jihad. The personalities draw you into their times and circumstances and, in near-Shakespearean roles demonstrate frustration, betrayal, amazing trust, and philosophical brilliance. The drama educates the reader in matters of history and warfare, from the intricacy of armaments and fortress design, to the brutality of combat as well as the politics of the times. You are there and Europe must turn back the Ottoman Empire, but Europe is behind and Vienna, the linchpin in Europe’s defense, is at great risk! At one point our characters have conducted a raid into the enemy camp, kidnapped an important warrior and seek to interrogate him.The individual is hung upside down and the customary torture begins. Mathis and Tannenberg cut him down with Mathis saying “I’m doing the right thing....Killing a man in battle is one thing. This stinks.” This brings to center stage the seminal question of: “How can we (as a civilized society) fight, and win, against a society that is so fundamentally different from ours, without so changing ourselves in the process that we might as well have lost in the first place?” This battle within the characters is their Jihad, and the question persists in our circumstances today. The book is worth your read. It is first and foremost entertaining and high, fast-paced drama. It is also history, as history should be taught -- in the circumstances in which it was created. And finally it deals with fundamental dilemmas we face today, but done in a manner just enough removed from today’s circumstances to be instructive. Good stuff. A must read. And I am ready for Dawson’s next book!

About this title

About the Author

C. Wayne Dawson writes for The Williamson County Sun and has written for History Magazine, Focus On Georgetown, and SAFVIC Law Enforcement Newsletter. In 2012, he founded Central Texas Authors, a collaborative literary group. He was an Adjunct Professor of History for ten years at Mt. San Antonio College where he created the Chautauqua program. There, he enlisted scholars, government officials, and activists to discuss and debate social policy before the student body and the media. In 2009, the students of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society honored him with the Glaux Mentor Teacher Award for bringing the Chautauqua program to Mt. SAC. He currently lives in Georgetown, TX with his wife and two dogs. http://www.waynedawson.com/

Edition details

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1490426345
• ISBN 13: 9781490426341
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 336