God's Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570 to 1215

New York: W. W. Norton. Fine in Near Fine dust jacket. 2008. Book Club Edition. 1. Hard Cover. 0393064727 . Publisher's full black paper-covered boards, gilt lettering on spine. Illustrated with color photographs. God's Crucible is a bold, new interpretation of Islamic Spain and the birth of Europe from one of our greatest historians. David Levering Lewis's narrative, filled with accounts of some of the greatest battles in world history, reveals how cosmopolitan, Muslim al-Andalus flourished - a beacon of cooperation and tolerance - while proto-Europe floundered in opposition. At the beginning of the eighth century, the Arabs brought a momentous revolution in power, religion, and culture to Dark Ages Europe. Lewis's masterful history begins with the fall of the Persian and Roman empires, followed by the rise of the prophet Muhammad and the creation of Muslim Spain. Five centuries of engagement between the Muslim imperium and an emerging Europe followed, from the Muslim conquest of Visigoth Hispania in 711 to Latin Christendom s declaration of unconditional warfare on the Caliphate in 1215. Lewis is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize. . The volume is in excellent condition, unmarked, tight, square and clean. Unclipped dust jacket shows extremely mild shelf-wear, else fine. FINE/NEAR FINE. . Color Photographs. Large 8vo 9" - 10" tall. xxv, (iii), 473, (3) pp .