On the one hand the fall of the Christian Middle East at Yarmuk and the sack of Constantinople by the Ottomans, on the other the glorious multicultural societies of Cordoba and Palermo - these and other fragments of our collective memory come alive as part of a huge canvas in this fresh narrative history by a master popular historian.
Author Biography
Stephen O'Shea is a Canadian historian and journalist. His earlier books Back to the Front: an accidental historian walks the trenches of World War I and The Perfect Heresy: the Life and Death of the Cathars were acclaimed as popular history at its best. He lives in France. Click here for his webpage.
Reviews
"'Marvellous accomplishment' Publishers Weekly (US) 'A vast wave of learning, every page carrying a glittering freight of insight, detail and caustic observation' Independent on Sunday 'O'Shea writes miraculously well... a kind of masterpiece, unlike any other book on the subject' Andrew Wheatcroft, Toronto Globe & Mail"
