Europe and the Islamic World: A History Hardcover - 2012

"This penetrating and nuanced study by three French scholars should finally lay to rest simplistic and superficial notions about an age-old 'clash of civilizations' between the Islamic and Western worlds. For all the ways that clerics on opposite sides tried to uphold Manichaean distinctions between believers and infidels, the real story is a much more complex one of shared human values, vigorous commercial trading, invented or reinvented traditions, and mutual cultural penetration within a mosaic of political rivalries, with religious rhetoric used both to legitimize power and mobilize resistance. This important book, which sets the scene for urgent contemporary issues, should be necessary reading for anyone seriously interested in global affairs."--Malise Ruthven, author of Islam in the World

"Europe and the Islamic World makes for an interesting and sometimes provocative volume. In this erudite book, three distinguished scholars give their unique perspectives on Muslim-European political encounters, cultural exchanges, representations, and interactions. Their argument is that these encounters have been many, diverse, and ongoing. Europe and the Islamic World informs--and large parts of it entertain."--Virginia H. Aksan, author of Ottomans and Europeans: Contacts and Conflicts

"Many Americans and Europeans take it for granted that the West and Islam are at war and always have been. Tolan, Veinstein, and Laurens argue that we are part of the same civilization, for all the violence and conflict over the centuries. Europe and the Islamic World is a book of great learning and great passion."--Mark Gregory Pegg, author of The Corruption of Angels: The Great Inquisition of 1245-1246