MERIP Middle East Report · 1986 · 181 citations · 0 references
HumanitiesCultural StudiesHistoryIslamic StudiesMiddle Eastern HistoryMiddle Eastern StudiesCrusade ChroniclesCrusade HistoriographyCrusade MemoryIslamic HistoryIslamic Responses To The CrusadesMiddle Eastern Social HistoryArab RepresentationArab WarfareArabic Crusade ChroniclesCrusade Representation In LiteratureCrusade WritingCrusader Chronicles HistoriographyIslamic Perspectives On The Crusader StatesTwentieth-century Crusade Scholarship
The book examines the Crusades from an Arab perspective, showing that Arab chronicles differ markedly from European accounts and portray the 12th‑13th‑century Middle East as a period of intense resistance against barbarian invasions amid internal strife. Maalouf’s retelling presents a vivid portrait of a society torn by internal conflict and shaken by a traumatic encounter with an alien culture.
European and Arab versions of the Crusades have little in common. For Arabs, the twelfth and thirteenth centuries were years of strenuous efforts to repel a brutal and destructive invasion by barbarian hordes. In The Crusades Through Arab Eyes, Amin Maalouf has sifted through the works of a score of contemporary Arab chroniclers of the Crusades, eyewitnesses and often participants in the events. He retells their stories in their own vivacious style, giving us a vivid portrait of a society rent by internal conflicts, and shaken by a traumatic encounter with an alien culture. He retraces two critical centuries of Middle Eastern history, and offers fascinating insights into some of the forces that shape Arab and Islamic consciousness today.