The Crusades Through Arab Eyes
![]() First edition (French) | |
Author | Amin Maalouf |
---|---|
Language | French |
Subject | History |
Publisher | JC Lattès France Schocken Books United States of America |
Publication date | 1983 1984 English translation |
Publication place | France |
ISBN | 0-8052-0898-4 |
OCLC | 22435105 |
The Crusades Through Arab Eyes (French: Les Croisades vues par les Arabes) is a French language historical essay by Lebanese author Amin Maalouf.[1]
As the name suggests, the book is a narrative retelling of primary sources drawn from various Arab chronicles that seeks to provide an Arab perspective on the Crusades, and especially regarding the Crusaders – the (Franj), as the Arabs called them – who were considered cruel, savage, ignorant and culturally backward.[2]
From the first invasion in the eleventh century through till the general collapse of the Crusades in the thirteenth century, the book constructs a narrative that is the reverse of that common in the Western world, describing the main facts as bellicose and displaying situations of a quaint historic setting, where Western Christians are viewed as "barbarians", and unaware of the most elementary rules of honor, dignity and social ethics.[3]
References
[edit]- Maalouf, Amin (1984). The Crusades Through Arab Eyes. New York: Schocken Books. ISBN 0-8052-0898-4.
- Bourget, Carine (June 1, 2006). "The Rewriting of History in Amin Maalouf's The Crusades Through Arab Eyes" (pdf). Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature. 30 (2 (Article 3)): 27. doi:10.4148/2334-4415.1633. Archived from the original on 2018-07-19.
Citations
[edit]- ^ Bourget 2006, pp. 265–6.
- ^ Bourget 2006, pp. 264, 267, 268–9.
- ^ Bourget 2006, pp. 270–71.