Religious intoleranceand conflict Books

Book SynopsisTrade Review“As an ideological refresher on what the West got right, Shapiro’s book gets the job done.” — The Washington Post Shapiro cavorts through 3,000 years of intellectual history in the span of about 250 pages, offering a perspicuous, “user-friendly” dive into some of our civilization’s biggest ideas. — The Washington Examiner “Ben Shapiro knows the power of his voice. He stands up and fights for what he believes with time-tested ideas. The Right Side of History is thoughtful and well-reasoned - exactly what Shapiro’s critics don’t want you to hear.” — Nikki Haley, former premanent representative of the U.S. Mission of the United Nations

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Book SynopsisHow identity politics failed one particular identity.A must read and if you think YOU don't need to read it, that's just the clue to know you do' SARAH SILVERMANA masterpiece'' STEPHEN FRYJews Don't Count is a book for people on the right side of history. People fighting the good fight against homophobia, disablism, transphobia and, particularly, racism. People, possibly, like you.It is the comedian and writer David Baddiel's contention that one type of racism has been left out of this fight. In his unique combination of reasoning, polemic, personal experience and jokes, Baddiel argues that those who think of themselves as on the right side of history have often ignored the history of anti-Semitism. He outlines why and how, in a time of intensely heightened awareness of minorities, Jews don't count as a real minority.Trade Review‘Jews Don’t Count is a supreme piece of reasoning and passionate, yet controlled, argument. From his first sentence, the energy, force and conviction of Baddiel’s writing and thinking will transfix you…as readable as an airport thriller…a masterpiece.’STEPHEN FRY ‘I don’t think I have ever been so grateful to anyone for writing a book. Baddiel’s Jews Don’t Count is incisive, urgent, surprisingly funny and short. It’s also a beautiful piece of publishing. It needs to be read’JAY RAYNER ‘Brilliant, furious, uncomfortable, funny. Essential reading.’SIMON MAYO ‘I'm about a quarter of the way into this thus far and it's very well argued and written. It's a book you know the author HAD to write, and those are the best books’JON RONSON ‘I only big up work I really believe is good and this is extra-ordinarily good. And important’JONATHAN ROSS ‘This is brilliant – funny and furious, mostly at the same time’MARINA HYDE ‘A convincing and devastating charge sheet’ Dominic Lawson, Sunday Times ‘It is so gripping – I read it in a single sitting’ Stephen Bush, The Times ‘A fascinating book, I urge you to read it’ Piers Morgan ‘I really think it’s a great book … the real triumph is its tone, its straightforwardness, and its spectacular tact and wit’ Adam Phillips, author of Monogamy ‘this short and powerful book shows, with remarkable humanity and humour, that no contemporary conversation about racism is complete without confronting antisemitism. An essential read – and a compulsory one too, if I had my way.’ Sathnam Sanghera ‘Funny, complex and intellectually satisfying – a really good piece of work’ Frankie Boyle ‘Just so brilliantly argued and written, I was completely swept along’ Hadley Freeman ‘David Baddiel is a brilliant thinker and writer. Even when I disagree with him – especially when I disagree with him – I feel profound gratitude for his intellectual and moral clarity. This is a brave and necessary book.’ Jonathan Safran Foer

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Book SynopsisUgur Ümit Üngör is Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust, and Genocide Studies, Holland. He has won several academic awards and held visiting positions in Dublin, Vancouver, Budapest, Toronto, and Los Angeles. His most recent publication is Paramilitarism: Mass Violence in the Shadow of the State (2020).Jaber Baker is a documentary filmmaker, novelist and human rights activist. Between 2002 and 2004 he was held in a military prison in Syria. He has 16 years' experience of research and specialises in the Syrian prison system.Trade ReviewIn Syrian Gulag, Jaber Baker and Ugur Ümit Üngör present the first detailed overview of the prison system. They have carried out more than 100 interviews with surviving detainees, as well as former prisoner workers and many other eyewitnesses. They have also drawn upon a huge amount of archival material. The results are profoundly shocking. In more than 30 years of book reviewing, this is the most horrifying volume I have read. -- Peter Carty * The Spectator *Syrian Gulag … is the most comprehensive and systematic single-volume book on Syria’s imprisonment system of terror. -- Usman Butt * The New Arab *This book is an extraordinary achievement. Drawing on extensive primary source material, Baker and Üngör reveal in an unprecedented level of detail the sheer magnitude of Syria’s massive internal security agencies, the bureaucratization of torture on an industrial scale, and the extent to which fear is a constant presence in the lives of ordinary Syrians. The book is unsparing in its accounts of survivors of torture and techniques of torture, and all the more powerful for including them. It makes an unimpeachable case for brutality and violence as defining attributes of the Assad regime. It is also a sobering rebuttal to those seeking the regime’s “normalization.” It should be required reading for all who have an interest in Syria, human rights, and states as perpetrators of mass violence. * Steven Heydemann, Professor, Smith College, USA *This study is the first in any language to begin to map the Syrian prison archipelago. It is an urgently necessary and timely insight into the workings of Syria's Assad regime. * Anne-Marie McManus, Principle Investigator at the ERC Project SYRASP, Germany *As some European states have started forcing refugees back to Syria, this book is a grim reminder that for its unfortunate citizens, the violence preceded the use of rockets and barrel bombs, and the threat to their life remains undiminished. What makes this book invaluable is its panoramic picture of Syria’s vast repressive apparatus that the uprising failed to dislodge. What makes this book frightening is that unlike Dante, who had to use his prodigious imagination to describe hell, the hell described herein comes from the direct experience of survivors who lived through its various circles of torment. In painstaking detail, Jaber Baker and Ugur Ümit Üngör have mapped the hellish institutions, sites, and methods through which the Syrian regime has preserved its rule by extinguishing hope and humanity. And through meticulous documentation they’ve also created an instrument through which the perpetrators may one day be held to account. * Dr. Muhammad Idrees Ahmad, Director of Journalism, University of Essex, UK *Syria's dungeons have long kept its secrets; places so foreboding and cruel that few dared mention what happens inside them. The war has changed that. Once taboo topics are now being discussed far from the broken country, where former prisoners now in exile are detailing a killing and torture machine that rivals the Khmer Rouge for the scale of its savagery. In Syrian Gulag, Üngör and Baker open the gates of one of modern history's most infamous prison systems and empower a brutalised people to tell their stories. * Martin Chulov, Middle East Correspondent, The Guardian *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Mezze: Political Elites and Incarceration 2. Intelligence Bureaus 3. Tadmur 4. The First Military Prison: Saydnaya 5. Civil Prisons for Justice and Reconciliation 6. Conclusion Appendix 1 Some Main characters Appendix 2 Tortures and their tools Appendix 3 Kitchen and Eating Utensils Appendix 4 Diseases Appendix 5 Medicines Appendix 6 Prison Jargon Bibliography Notes

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Book SynopsisThe great scholar of Islam directly confronts the events of September 11th and the reasons behind Islamic terrorism in the modern world - a Sunday Times bestseller.

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Book SynopsisIn 1609, the entire Muslim population of Spain was given three days to leave Spanish territory or else be killed. In a brutal and traumatic exodus, entire families were forced to abandon the homes and villages where they had lived for generations. In just five years, Muslim Spain had effectively ceased to exist: an estimated 300,000 Muslims had been removed from Spanish territory making it what was then the largest act of ethnic cleansing in European history.Blood and Faith is a riveting chronicle of this virtually unknown episode, set against the vivid historical backdrop of Muslim Spain. It offers a remarkable window onto a little-known period in modern Europe-a rich and complex tale of competing faiths and beliefs, of cultural oppression and resistance against overwhelming odds.Trade Review'Well-balanced and comprehensive … "Blood and Faith" is a splendid work of synthesis. … it is impossible to read this book without sensing its resonance in our own time.' * The New York Times *'Who remembers the last survivors of Muslim Spain, whom Spaniards contemptuously called Moriscos ("little Moors")? Impressive research on them has appeared in the last 30 years, yet until now, none of it has escaped beyond the walls of the academic ghetto. Matthew Carr's well-balanced and comprehensive book brings the story of their tragic fate to a wider public... Splendid.' * New York Times Book Review *'Matthew Carr['s] magnificent "Blood and Faith" charts the tragic end of the moriscos, … "a monumental historical crime" from which he seeks lessons for today.' -- The Guardian'Eloquently written and carefully researched, "Blood and Faith" is an important new study that synthesises much important scholarship on the moriscos, until now inaccessible to an English readership, and makes us aware of historical precedents to current ideological and cultural conflicts.' * European History Quarterly *'Balanced and thoroughly researched history.' * Literary Review *'Matthew Carr's well-researched account ... is carefully written and thoroughly documented. ... This is a reliable, if often harrowing, account of a sad episode in Spanish and European history, which deserves to be better known.' -- History Today'Carr navigates issues of assimilation and integration rather elegantly, and arrives at carefully considered conclusions with his deft analysis of the events that led to the expulsion and its aftermath. Indeed, Carr has written a valuable cautionary tale for the public on the pathways that crystallise imaginary evils.' -- LSE Review of Books'An estimated 350,000 Muslims were forced to abandon their homes; many died on the journey to the ships that would take them to North Africa, and many others were terrorized, raped, robbed and killed by forces that were supposed to protect them. Carr deftly narrates the complex events leading up to this little-known but horrific episode as a warning against religious intolerance and xenophobia.' * Publishers Weekly *'[A] sweeping panorama of a critical historical period . . . Carr's account is a powerful warning of the perils of intolerance of difference and of policies of forced conversion and assimilation.''A fascinating account of perhaps the first major episode of European ethnic cleansing and, just as importantly, the story of the beginning of the conviction that "blood" matters more than belief; a conviction that led, in the end, to modern racism. In an age when so many people, on both "sides", believe we face an historic confrontation between Christendom and Islam, it is essential to place the relations between these two global Abrahamic religions in a wider historical framework. This book does that eloquently and judiciously.' -- Professor Kwame Anthony Appiah'In this first comprehensive appreciation in many decades of the Muslim expulsion from Spain, "Blood and Faith" meticulously recaptures the fateful self-mutilation of a society that might have become Europe's first multicultural nation and offers a grim lesson about religious and racial repression in our contemporary age of contested faiths.' -- Professor David Levering Lewis, author of 'God's Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215'

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Book SynopsisDrawing on sources in eight countries and ten languages, Magda Teter tells the history of the antisemitic blood libel myth, whose long shadow extends from premodern monastic chronicles to Facebook. The vocabulary and images that crystallized and spread with the invention of the printing press are still with us, as are their pernicious consequences.Trade Review[A] magnum opus…Suggest[s] that in any era truth sits on a precarious perch, and that a slight shift in political or social winds can send reason and fact toppling into a conspiratorial void…A tour de force of historical research, reconstruction, and analysis that casts new light on well-known stories and unearths episodes almost entirely forgotten…Offer[s] both hope and a warning. Hatred, either of neighbors or strangers, is not inevitable. -- Sara Lipton * New York Review of Books *Terrifying and learned…Her book can be read more broadly as an allegory for our age, a story about how technological change, religious beliefs, struggles for power, and a politics of demonization can produce memes capable of transmitting the potential for violence across vast amounts of time and space…Teter’s book assumes a well-deserved place in this illustrious tradition of forensic history on the blood libel, and we should all be grateful for it, since the task remains vitally necessary. -- David Nirenberg * The Nation *[A] magisterial account of the blood libel and its origins. -- Geoffrey Alderman * Times Higher Education *Reads like a high-end crime novel; it’s a page-turner that the reader will have difficulty putting down…The conceit of the book is that how and why the libelous stories of ritual murder were spread across Europe, using new broadcast technologies, were as significant—perhaps more so—than the blood libel incidents themselves. -- Jerome A. Chanes * New York Jewish Week *Draws on archives in eight countries, including Vatican City, in a detailed analysis of the establishment of this monstrous myth in medieval and early modern Europe…Blood Libel presents a cogent account of this persistence of hate…An informative account of the different ways in which European countries handled blood libel accusations against Jews…A timely reminder that ‘leadership matters, as do words and official statements.’ -- Glenn C. Altschuler * Jerusalem Post *Although there is a great deal of research on the history of the blood libel, much of it recent, Magda Teter’s book is one of the rare works to focus extensively on the early modern period (1450–1790s). She does so with impressive erudition…The product is a dazzling intellectual history, a foray into hundreds of well-known and little-known sources that, examined together, provide a comprehensive picture of the creation, dissemination, and reception of this stubbornly persistent antisemitic myth…A monumental work of scholarship likely to stand for a long time as the definitive study of this scurrilous anti-Jewish myth. -- Edward Berenson * Antisemitism Studies *Begins and ends on a warning note, with an attentiveness to modern-day incidents. With its wealth of archival material, Blood Libel will engage readers who are interested not only in the history of antisemitism but also in the historical and cultural contexts with which it intersects. -- Heather Blurton * H-Net Reviews *Unique…A detective-like reconstruction of blood libel accusations…[These are] extraordinary stories Teter reconstructs. We have in them a unique, unprecedented, and expansive window into a scourge, which, as even the briefest online glance reveals, is sadly still alive. -- Kenneth Stow * Journal of Modern History *A well-written, masterful examination of one of the most deleterious examples of ‘fake news’…Teter is fully conversant with canon and civil law, iconography, church-state relations, and social history—all requisite in exploring the regional similarities and differences between Christian attitudes regarding, and Jewish responses to, the blood libel charge. * Choice *An intellectual tour de force. This authoritative study of the blood libel and its ramifications in early modern Europe will become a classic. -- Ronnie Po-Chia Hsia, author of Trent 1475: Stories of a Ritual Murder TrialA work of wide-ranging research, great insight, and remarkable erudition. This will be the definitive book on blood libel for a long time to come, equally important for readers of Jewish history and Christian history in early modern Europe. -- Larry Wolff, author of Inventing Eastern Europe: The Map of Civilization on the Mind of the EnlightenmentIn this deeply researched and meticulously argued book, Magda Teter offers the first comprehensive study of the origins and afterlife of one of the most virulent and harmful of all anti-Jewish accusations. But Blood Libel is far more than a narrative history. By highlighting the central role of printed books, broadsheets, and images in the dissemination of the libel, Teter illuminates the mechanisms by which hate can be generated, and offers a powerful and sobering lesson for our own time. -- Sara Lipton, author of Dark Mirror: The Medieval Origins of Anti-Semitic Iconography

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Book Synopsis''Åsne Seierstad is the supreme non-fiction writer of her generation ... Two Sisters isn''t only the story of how a pair of teenage girls became radicalised but an unsparing portrait of our own society - of its failings and its joys'' Luke HardingOn 17 October 2013, teenage sisters Ayan and Leila Juma left their family home near Oslo, seemingly as usual. Later that day they sent an email to their unsuspecting parents, confessing they were on their way to Syria. They had been planning the trip for months in secret.Åsne Seierstad - working closely with the family - followed the story through its many dramatic twists and turns. This is, in part, a story about Syria. But most of all it is a story of what happens to apparently ordinary people when their lives are turned upside down by conflict and tragedy.''A masterpiece and a masterclass in investigative journalism'' Christina Lamb, Sunday Times''Meticulously documented, fulTrade ReviewHauntingly written, this book is both a masterpiece and a masterclass in investigative journalism * Christina Lamb, Sunday Times *A modern tragedy. And a universal one ... None of us truly knows what teenagers think, behind their closed doors, nor what tomorrow will bring * The Times *Meticulously documented, full of drama ... filled with smuggling, violence, ever-changing loyalties and tension ... this is a tale fluently told, and a thriller as well * Kate Adie, Literary Review *Intricate, compelling * Observer *Åsne Seierstad is the supreme non-fiction writer of her generation. Her latest work is haunting, luminously written and compelling. A brilliant book. Two Sisters isn't only the story of how a pair of teenage girls became radicalised but an unsparing portrait of our own society - of its failings and its joys * Luke Harding, author of Collusion *Two Sisters is a masterwork. Brilliantly conceived, scrupulously reported and beautifully written, this book is compulsive reading ... Seierstad fixes her lens on one of the most disturbing conundrums of our time - what leads ordinary people to become terrorists? * Jon Lee Anderson *Simply magnificent ... One of the most important books of our time * Svenska Dagbladet *

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Book SynopsisA clear-sighted exploration of how antisemitism has been politicised, and the damaging consequences of its redefinitionTrade Review'Nobody unpacks the confusions currently circulating around antisemitism, nor the complexities of Jewish identity, better than Antony Lerman. This elegantly written, erudite book is essential reading for all of us, whatever our identifications' -- Lynne Segal, author of 'Radical Happiness: Moments of Collective Joy''An urgently needed book. The contemporary debate about antisemitism is both incoherent and appalling. Faced with this hot mess, Antony Lerman offers a cool, well-reasoned, deeply learned and morally courageous meditation on what antisemitism is and isn't' -- Peter Beinart, editor-at-large at 'Jewish Currents''We desperately need this book [...] An essential tool to understand the weaponisation of antisemitism and its dangerous impact on free speech, Palestinian rights, and the very real threat of actual antisemitism' -- Rebecca Vilkomerson, former Executive Director of Jewish Voice for Peace'This important, essential book by a leading expert on antisemitism offers a nuanced history of the use and abuse of the fight against the world's oldest hatred. It powerfully unmasks the successful effort to twist the battle against antisemitism into a defense of the indefensible: Israel's subjugation of millions of people on the basis of their national and ethnic identity' -- Nathan Thrall, author of 'The Only Language They Understand''The best book I have read on why anti-Zionism has been equated with antisemitism and how the 'new antisemitism' has been mobilised for political gain' -- Neve Gordon, co-author of 'The Human Right to Dominate'Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Acronyms and abbreviations Introduction 1. Varieties of Confusion in Understandings of Antisemitism 2. The Use and Abuse of Antisemitic Stereotypes and Tropes 3. Motivated by Antisemitism? Challenges to Zionism 1975–1989 4. ‘New Antisemitism’: Competing Narratives and the Consequences of Politicisation 5. The Development of Institutions Combatting Antisemitism 1970s–2000 6. The Turning Point: ‘New Antisemitism’ and the New Millennium 7. The Codification of ‘New Antisemitism’: The EUMC ‘Working Definition’ 8. Responding to ‘New Antisemitism’: a Transnational Field of Racial Governance 9. The Redefinition Project and the Myth of the ‘Collective Jew’ Exposed 10. Human Rights: The ‘Mask Under Which the Teaching of Antisemitic Contempt for Israel is Carried Out’ 11. Geopolitics, Israel and the Authentication of ‘New Antisemitism’ 12. ‘War’ Discourse and its Limitations 13. ‘Jewish Power’, Medical Analogies and ‘Eradication’ Discourse 14. Apocalypticism: Defining the Discourse, Writing the Headlines and Generating Moral Panics 15. Against Typological Thinking: Summary and Conclusions Appendix: The IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism Notes Index

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Book SynopsisIn twelfth century Languedoc a subversive heresy of Eastern origin flourished to an extraordinary degree. The Albingenses believed that the world was created by an evil spirit, and that all worldly things - including the Church - were by nature sinful.Jonathan Sumption''s acclaimed history examines the roots of the heresy, the uniquely rich culture of the region which nurtured it, and the crusade launched against it by the Church which resulted in one of the most savage of all medieval wars.''[Sumption] never fails to keep his narrative lively with the particular and the pertinent. He is excellent on the tactics and spirit of medieval warfare.'' Frederic Raphael, Sunday Times

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Book SynopsisAn account of the capture of Lisbon in 1147 by the combined forces of King Alfonso Henriques of Portugal and a fleet of crusaders from the Anglo-Norman realm, Flanders, and the Rhineland. This work conveys the tensions between the secular and spiritual motives of a crusading army.

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewIon Popa's book makes a welcome contribution to the debate on the Holocaust in Romania by focusing on the largest religious confession, the Romanian Orthodox Church. * Journal of Orthodox Christian Studies *Popa's study is a first substantial and therefore crucial contribution to an important facet of the Holocaust in Romania. He uses solid and broad basis of pirmary and secondary sources and careful annotations. -- Simon Geissbuhler * Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas – Redaktion * The Romanian Orthodox Church and the Holocaust is an important book. Its value is found in the fact that it exposes the extent to which the thread of continuity that runs through Romanian Christian nationalist discourse from the 1930s and 1940s, through the communist period, all the way to the present, is sustained by a systematic and organised process of forgetting. It also demonstrates how carefully orchestrated silence and selective remembering of the national past are instrumental in sustaining antisemitic ideas and attitudes in contemporary eastern European society. * Antisemitism Studies *The present book is an important addition to the study of the Holocaust in Romania and also fills a major gap in scholarship on the Romanian Orthodox Church, the country's largest religious denomination. * Reading Religion *Popa has brought to light an impressive volume of archival data unavailable to researchers and the general public until recently. * Holocaust and Genocide Studies *This study presents a wealth of interesting material and the verve and consistency with which the argument is presented makes for a convincing and readable account. As the first exploration of its kind on this politically, socially, and culturally relevant and historically significant subject for an English-speaking readership, it is unquestionably an important contribution to scholarly literature. * H-Nationalism *Table of ContentsList of Abbreviations AcknowledgementsIntroduction1. A dangerous "symphonia": the church-state relationship and its impact on the Jewish Community of Romania before 22 June 19412. Perpetrator, Bystander or Saviour? The Romanian Orthodox Church and the Holocaust (1941-1944)3. The Jewish Community of Romania and the Romanian Orthodox Church in the aftermath of the Holocaust (1945-1948) 4. Cleansing the past, rewriting history: The Romanian Orthodox Church from active involvement in the Holocaust to the whitewashing process5. Forgetting the truth, forgetting the dead: the use of the Holocaust for political and religious agendas and the persistence of anti-Semitism (1945-1948)6. Behind religious harmony: The Romanian Orthodox Church and the Jewish Community during the communist era (1948-1989)7. The Romanian Orthodox Church, Holocaust memory and anti-Semitism during the communist era (1948-1989)8. Nationalism, anti-Semitism and the Romanian Orthodox Church after 1989: Understanding the context of Holocaust memory's re-emergence in post-communist Romania9. The Romanian Orthodox Church and Holocaust memory after 1989ConclusionAppendixBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThe Persecution of the Jews in Photographs, the Netherlands 1940-1945 is the first book of its kind on the subject. Both the professional photographers commissioned by the occupying forces and amateurs took moving photographs. On 10 May 1940, the day of the German invasion, there were 140,000 Jewish inhabitants living in the Netherlands. The full extent of their terrible fate only became known after the war: at least 102,000 were murdered, died of mistreatment or were worked to death in the Nazi camps. This tragedy has had a profound effect on Dutch society. Photographic archives and private collections were consulted in the Netherlands and abroad. Extensive background data was researched, which means that the moving pictures have an even greater force of expression. The result is an overwhelming collection of almost 400 photographs, accompanied by detailed captions.

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Book Synopsis*THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER**SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE**A TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES AND BBC HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR*''A bona fide historical classic'' Sunday Times''Simply one of the best history books I have ever read'' BBC HistoryIn the frontier town of Springfield in 1651, peculiar things begin to happen. Precious food spoils, livestock ails and property vanishes. People suffer fits and are plagued by strange visions and dreams. Children sicken and die. As tensions rise, rumours spread of witches and heretics, and the community becomes tangled in a web of spite, distrust and denunciation. The finger of suspicion falls on a young couple struggling to make a home and feed their children: Hugh Parsons the irascible brickmaker and his troubled wife, Mary. It will be their downfall.The Ruin of All Witches tells the dark, real-life folktale of witch-hunting iTrade ReviewA bona fide historical classic ... Historical writing of the very highest class, impeccably researched and written with supreme imagination and wisdom. -- Dominic Sandbrook * Sunday Times *Unforgettable ... Whether you read The Ruin of All Witches for a startling insight into another age, or see its portrait of mob hysteria and witch-hunts as darkly analogous to our own uneasy times, this is one of those rare history books that stays with you and haunts you long after you have turned the last page. Superb. -- Christopher Hart * Sunday Times *The genius of Gaskill's book lies in his meticulous piecing together of daily life in New England ... Gaskill tells this deeply tragic story with immense empathy and compassion, as well as historical depth. A compelling study that offers a chilling insight into human nature in an age of superstition. -- PD Smith * The Guardian *Breathtaking ... a great story, exquisitely told. I had to reread certain sentences aloud, just to savour their insight and cadence ... This book is history at its illuminative best. -- Gerard DeGroot * The Times *The narrative is as compelling as a campfire story ... This is deeply atmospheric writing, carefully sourced ... As with the best history, the lessons of Springfield's past may serve to inform the citizens of a still-divided and conflicted nation. -- Erica Wagner * Financial Times *Evocative right from the start, the reader is drawn in and excited in both body and mind ... It's a feast ... a valuable gift to every reader of history. -- Marion Gibson * BBC History Magazine *A portrait of a community during one of the first Puritan witch panics in the New World - and a timeless study of how paranoia, superstition and social unrest fuel fantasies ... Mr Gaskill's immersive approach brings the fate of his subjects movingly to life. * The Economist *Simply one of the best history books I have ever read ... His deeply imaginative, empathetic and yet empirical exploration of a past moment of crisis is history at its finest. -- Suzannah Lipscomb * BBC History *A rich and beautifully written microhistory ... a work of remarkable historical reconstruction. -- Edward Vallance * Literary Review *Malcolm Gaskill shows us with filmic vividness the daily life of the riven, marginal community of Springfield, where settlers from a far country dwell on the edge of the unknown. The clarity of his thought and his writing, his insight, and the immediacy of the telling, combine to make this the best and most enjoyable kind of history writing. Malcolm Gaskill goes to meet the past on its own terms and in its own place, and the result is thought-provoking and absorbing. -- Hilary MantelA surefooted and gripping narrative ... Gaskill's Springfield joins Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie's Montaillou, Tony Wrigley's Colyton and other places of little intrinsic importance which for one reason or another have been immortalised by modern historiography... There is currently no memorial for Hugh and Mary Parsons in Springfield like those which have been erected in other places where witches were hunted. Perhaps they will get one now. -- Keith Thomas * London Review of Books *Reads with the fluency of a novel ... Crucially, Gaskill writes to make us see the world as those early Puritans saw it; how their own psychological fears, of financial ruin, of neighbours, of Native Americans and the hostile elements, could seed the first accusations of witchcraft. -- Samira Ahmend * The New Humanist *An impressively researched account, bringing to life the fears and preoccupations of obscure and humble people, and setting them in the context of their time and place. -- Richard Francis * The Spectator *Powerfully evocative, a grimly compelling morality tale with more than one unexpected twist ... an outstanding achievement, haunting, revelatory and superbly written - a strong contender for the best history book of 2021. -- Andrew Lynch * Irish Independent *A pulsating history of sorcery and superstition ... an academic feat but reads like a Stephen King thriller - and it's just right for our conspiracy-laden times. -- Robert Epstein * The i *A riveting micro-history, brilliantly set within the broader social and cultural history of witchcraft. Drawing on previously neglected source material, this book is elegantly written and full of intelligent analysis. * Wolfson History Prize 2022 *

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Book SynopsisThe New Crusadesis an intersectional milestone. It lucidly illustrates how converging systems of subordination, power, and violence related to Islamophobia are experienced across the globe.Kimberlé Crenshaw, from the forewordA profound wake-up call.-Publishers Weekly Insightful and disturbing.-Library JournalThe first book to examine global Islamophobia from a legal and ground-up perspective,from renowned public intellectual Khaled A. Beydoun. Islamophobia has spiraled into a global menace, and democratic and authoritarian regimes alike have deployed it as a strategy to persecute their Muslim populations. With this book, Khaled A. Beydoun details how the American War on Terror has facilitated and intensified the network of anti-Muslim campaigns unfolding across the world.The New Crusades is the first book of its kind, offering a critical and intimate examination of global Islamophobia and its manifestations in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and regions beyond and in between. ThrTrade Review"Those interested in Islam, religious persecution, or the relationship between religion and politics will find this insightful and disturbing." * Library Journal *"Sweeping yet intimately detailed, this is a profound wake-up call." * Publishers Weekly *"Enables the reader to learn how Islamophobia manifests across different contexts around the world." * Ethnic and Racial Studies *Table of ContentsContents Foreword by Kimberlé Crenshaw Introduction: Two Tuesdays 1. Forever Turned Around 2. War and Terror 3. Blood and Soil 4. Internment and Exile 5. Pandemic and Plague 6. Monsters and Martyrs 7. Ablution and Abolition Conclusion: Killing an Arab Epilogue Acknowledgments Notes Bibliographic Essay Index

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Book SynopsisDenis Lacorne traces the emergence of the modern notion of religious tolerance in order to rethink how we should respond to its contemporary tensions. He defends the Enlightenment concept against recent attempts to circumscribe it, arguing that without it a pluralistic society cannot survive.Trade Review[Lacorne] gives no pat answers, but an implicit lesson runs throughout. Defending toleration is not like protecting a jewel. It takes fixity of aim but also a feel for the changing context, persistence with a task that never ends, and readiness to start again. Toleration does gradually spread. It can also suddenly vanish. * The Economist *I simply don’t know a book on toleration that compares to this one. Denis Lacorne has managed to weave together both an intellectual history of ideas about toleration and a wide-ranging international survey of policies related to it. Theory and practice come together in a very illuminating way and will expand the American reader’s horizon beyond our borders. -- Mark Lilla, author of The Once and Future Liberal: After Identity PoliticsLiving in a religiously tolerant society, Americans no longer understand what the challenge of achieving religious toleration originally meant: learning to coexist with beliefs and practices that one detested. Denis Lacorne begins this critical survey by recalling the great Enlightenment voices for toleration: Locke, Voltaire, and the American founders. But he then examines modern European and American disputes to demonstrate why the struggle for toleration and free exercise remains so problematic—a fight that never quite ends but that we grasp much better after reading Lacorne's crisp and incisive chapters. -- Jack N. Rakove, author of Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the ConstitutionA timely, erudite, and insightful book that sheds light on issues concerning whether and when contemporary democracies should restrict the practices and beliefs of nonmainstream religious and political groups. It is the best book written on this subject to date. -- Bruce Cain, author of Democracy More or Less: America’s Political Reform QuandaryThis insightful study will be useful to all who are interested in clarifying their own views of this critical subject. * Choice *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsNew Introduction for the American Edition1. Tolerance According to John Locke2. Voltaire and Modern Tolerance3. Tolerance in America4. Tolerance in the Ottoman Empire5. Tolerance in Venice6. On Blasphemy7. Multicultural Tolerance8. Of Veils and Unveiling9. New Restrictions, New Forms of Tolerance10. Should We Tolerate the Enemies of Tolerance?Epilogue for the American Edition: Tolerance in the Age of TerrorismNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisExploring what it means to come of age in an era marked by increasing antisemitism, readers see through the eyes of Jewish Gen Zers how identities are shaped in response to and in defiance of antisemitism.Using personal experiences, qualitative research, and the historic moment in which Generation Z is coming of age, Jewish educator Samantha A. Vinokor-Meinrath uses antisemitism from both the political left and the right to explore identity development among Jewish Gen Zers. With insights from educators, students, activists, and more, she holds a lens up to current antisemitism and its impact on the choices and opinions of the next generation of Jewish leaders.Chapters cover Holocaust education for the final generation able to speak directly to Holocaust survivors and learn their stories firsthand; modern manifestations of antisemitism; and how the realities of 21st-century America have shaped the modern Jewish experience, ranging from the synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh to how

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewAll She Lost is a courageous and essential piece of journalism. It is a documentation of one of the most scandalous disasters of this century so far, including the corruption and negligence of Lebanon's leadership, and the human stories of those most affected by grave wrongdoing, for which there has still been no justice. Mawad approached this book in a unique way: through interviews with only women and girls, but of every age and background. She is honest about her own emotions throughout and her connection to the crisis, while being thorough with her reporting. I've never seen recent history written like this before and I hugely admire it. -- Sally Hayden, author of My Fourth Time, We Drowned and journalist for the Irish TimesA poignant and compelling account of the collapse of a state. By putting the voices of women at the centre, Dalal Mawad has found a way of telling the tragic story of the Beirut blast and the failure of the Lebanese political class that will resonate with anyone who cares about justice and the abuse of power. -- Lindsey Hilsum, Channel 4 News International Editor and author of SandstormIn her essential and urgent book, Dalal Mawad bears testament to the collapse of Lebanon. Told through the voices of courageous women, this oral history is also warning to all nations that let impunity seep through their foundations. -- Kim Ghattas, journalist and author of Black WaveAll She Lost gives voice not just to the women who endured Lebanon’s catastrophic port explosion but reveals the burden they have carried for years. Their testimony is heartbreaking and horrifying, each story uniquely shocking. An important account by women of their country’s decline and collapse. -- Quentin Somerville, BBC Middle East CorrespondentThe hitherto untold stories of women in Lebanon expose the crisis-hit country's story of trauma upon trauma without respite. In this sensitive and striking collective memoir, Dalal Mawad gives a voice to those who bear the brunt of the economic and political implosion characterising their homeland's modern collapse. -- Anoosh Chakelian, Britain Editor of the New StatesmanA deeply important, compelling and moving account of a dark moment in Lebanon's history, beautifully told through gripping personal stories of Lebanese women. Dalal Mawad does not just tell the story of Lebanon, but the story of women and the Middle East. -- Ramita Navai, Emmy and Robert F. Kennedy award-winning journalist and author of City of LiesA beautiful new voice for the unheard. -- Janine di Giovanni, journalist and author of The Morning They Came For UsA painful but necessary book that recounts, with both great compassion and artistry, yet another fatal episode of Lebanon’s serial tragedies. No one has told HERstory better and deeper than Dalal Mawad. -- Joumana Haddad, author of I Killed ScheherazadeThis is a deeply reported and powerful account on the collapse of a country. The testimony that Lebanese journalist Dalal Mawad has gathered is remarkable - and her empathy for all the woman she interviewed shines through on every page. This is a book that will stay with me long after I finished reading it. -- Martin Patience, Senior Producer at NPRDalal Mawad’s book on Lebanon is deeply personal– as a little girl, she was swept up in her country’s turmoil and later, as a journalist she covered a succession of cataclysmic events. While her own painful experiences vividly frame her writing, it is the astonishing accounts of the women she features that illuminate Lebanon’s dark history with their struggle for justice and dignity. An emotionally gripping and enlightening journey. -- Melissa Fleming, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications, and author of A Hope More Powerful than the SeaA heart-wrenching portrait of endurance and perseverance [...] a nuanced and compassionate account of the deadly explosion on Aug. 4, 2020. -- Publishers Weekly

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"This important new collection of articles on contemporary antisemitism clearly illustrates the global reach and diverse manifestations of the phenomenon today. Readers will appreciate this deeper analysis of the antisemitic developments they see briefly in the press."—Catherine Chatterley, Editor-in-Chief, Antisemitism Studies"Alvin Rosenfeld has done a masterful job of gathering together a group of internationally known scholars to examine one of the world's most pressing global problems, a threat that has implications not only for the Jews but also for all of humanity: antisemitism. As timely as it is penetrating, this collection of insightful essays presents a deft and needful exploration of the horror of antisemitism that haunts today's social and political landscape. There is no way of responding to antisemitism without understating it. Rosenfeld's book provides just such an understanding. It is a must-read for anyone with a conscience."—David Patterson, Hillel A. Feinberg Distinguished Chair in Holocaust Studies, University of Texas at Dallas"As Jew hatred moves from the margins of society into the mainstream of cultural discourse Contending with Antisemitism in a Rapidly Changing Political Climate offers first-rate disciplined academic examinations of the varieties Antisemitisms of the right and left in their cultural, social and political manifestations. The essays in this sobering volume are a must read for all who remember that the oldest hatred begins with Jews but quickly spreads to societies at large."—Doron Ben-Atar, Fordham University"Written by the best scholars in the field, this collection bears witness to the urgent need to reflect upon antisemitism in specific rather than general terms. From campus ideology and so-called new 'antiracist' theories to Eastern Europe, the Arab world, and U.N. public policy, no other book contributes as powerfully as this one to our understanding of the rise of contemporary antisemitism."—Bruno Chaouat, University of Minnesota"Alvin Rosenfeld has compiled an essential resource for those seeking to understand better the threats posed by resurgent antisemitism and its relationship to present-day political dynamics, particularly in Europe. Reading this volume's chapters will allow scholars, policymakers, and non-specialists to identify the many trends and manifestations of antisemitism that plague the world and undermine the shared values of the international community."—Robert J. Williams, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Former Chair, Committee on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance"This volume provides by far the best overview of the latest research into the various manifestations of antisemitism worldwide that is currently available. Despite its ugly subject matter, reading this book, edited by Professor Alvin H. Rosenfeld, is an intellectual pleasure. Every one of the excellently edited essays issues a scientifically rigorous call for a more effective struggle against the hatred of Jews, whether in right-wing, left-wing or Islamic milieus. This is a must-read for anyone with a professional interest in the topic but can also be highly recommended for general readers."—Matthias Küntzel, author of Jihad and Jew-Hatred: Islamism, Nazism and the Roots of 9/11"Alvin Rosenfeld's aptly titled anthology, Contending with Antisemitism in a Rapidly Changing Political Climate, provides a wide range of historical insights, fresh analytical frameworks and potential strategies to reverse antisemitism's potent resurgence and normalization. Readers are challenged to do more than simply define and/or identify antisemitism; we are encouraged to better understand how the growing reluctance to recognize it vindicates the perpetrators."—R. Amy Elman, author of The European Union, Antisemitism and the Politics of DenialTable of ContentsForeword, by Dina PoratIntroduction, by Alvin H. RosenfeldPart 1: The IHRA Definition of Antisemitism and Its Ramifications1. The IHRA Definition and Its Critics, by Bernard Harrison and Lesley Klaff2. Applying the IHRA Working Definition to the UN and Human Rights NGOs, by Gerald M. SteinbergPart 2: Intellectual and Ideological Currents of Antisemitism3. Israel as a White Colonial Settler State in Activist Social Science, by Balázs Berkovitz4. Traditionalism or the Perennial Philosophy, by Mark Weitzman5. Antisemitism on the Left, by Miriam F. ElmanPart 3: Antisemitism on College and University Campuses6. Contending with Antisemitism in its Many Forms on American Campuses, by Kenneth Waltzer7. In the Context of a Coarsened Climate, by Linda Maizels8. Rethinking Campus Antisemitism in America and How to Address It, by Tammi Rossman-BenjaminPart 4: The Global Reach of Antisemitism9. Orchestrating Public Blindness in Contemporary France, by Daniel Dayan10. Legislating and Distorting the History of the Holocaust, by Jan Grabowski11. The Changing Faces of European Antisemitism, by János Gadó12. Contradiction as Program, by Marc Grimm13. A "Serious Attack on Jewish Life", by Dana Ionescu14. What Role Does Antisemitism Play in Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party?, by Dave Rich15. Antisemitism and the Left in the UK and the Global Significance of the Return of the "Jewish Question", by Philip Spencer16. Rethinking the Role of Religion in the Arab-Israeli Conflict and its Reflection on Arab Antisemitic Discourse, by Esther Webman17. Can the European Institutions Combat Antisemitism Effectively?, by Mike WhineIndex

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Book SynopsisMany American Christians have come to understand their relationship to other Christian denominations and traditions through the lens of religious persecution. This book provides a historical account of these developments, showing the global, theological, and political changes that made it possible for contemporary Christians to claim that there is a global war on Christians. This book, however, does not advocate on behalf of particular repressed Christian communities, nor does it argue for the genuineness (or lack thereof) of certain Christians’ claims of persecution. Instead, this book is the first to examine the idea that there is a “global war on Christians” and its analytical implications. It does so by giving a concise history of the categories (like “martyrs”), evidence (statistics and metrics), and theologies that have come together to produce a global Christian imagination premised upon the notion of shared suffering for one’s faith. The purpose in doing so is not to deny certain instances of suffering or death; rather, it is to reflect upon the consequences for thinking about religious violence and Christianity worldwide using terms such as a “global war on Christians.”Trade Review"Jason Bruner's Imagining Persecution offers a polite, probing, and ultimately devastating deconstruction of the common American Christian belief that there is at this time a global war of persecution against Christians. This is an extraordinarily important book. In its own understated way, it raises this fundamental question—why exactly is it so important for conservative American Christians to believe they are part of a globally persecuted community?"— David P. Gushee, author of Still Christian: Following Jesus Out of American Evangelism. "A significant contribution."— David Smith, author of Religious Persecution and Political Order in the United States "Persecution, Martyrdom, and Christian Identity: 7 Questions with Jason Bruner"— Sacred Matters "New Books Network - New Nooks in Christian Studies" interview with Jason Bruner— New Books Network - New Nooks in Christian StudiesTable of ContentsContents Preface 1. Coming to Terms: Christians, Martyrs, and Persecution 2. Christians, Martyrdom, and Persecution from the New Testament to the Reformation 3. Religious Persecution and American Christianity 4. A Global War on Christians? 5. The Global Politics of the Suffering Body of Christ Notes Bibliography Acknowledgments Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“As an ideological refresher on what the West got right, Shapiro’s book gets the job done.” — The Washington Post Shapiro cavorts through 3,000 years of intellectual history in the span of about 250 pages, offering a perspicuous, “user-friendly” dive into some of our civilization’s biggest ideas. — The Washington Examiner “Ben Shapiro knows the power of his voice. He stands up and fights for what he believes with time-tested ideas. The Right Side of History is thoughtful and well-reasoned - exactly what Shapiro’s critics don’t want you to hear.” — Nikki Haley, former premanent representative of the U.S. Mission of the United Nations

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Book SynopsisFROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE SILK ROADS ''Filled with Byzantine intrigue, in every sense this book is important, compellingly revisionist and impressive in its scholarly use of totally fresh sources'' Simon Sebag Montefiore In 1096, an expedition of extraordinary scale and ambition set off from Western Europe on a mass pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Three years later, after a journey which saw acute hardship, the most severe dangers and thousands of casualties, the knights of the First Crusade found themselves storming the fortifications and capturing the Holy City. Against all the odds, the expedition had returned Jerusalem to Christian hands. In ''the most significant contribution to rethinking the origins and course of the First Crusade for a generation'' (Mark Whittow, TLS), Frankopan paints a strikingly original picture of this infamous confrontation between Christianity and Islam. Focusing on ConstantTrade ReviewFrankopan has written a remarkable book that makes as strong case as the incomplete and episodic evidence permits * Literary Review *Scholarly and yet accessible, and unashamedly partisan, The First Crusade, as any vibrant history should, is bound to set a lot of feathers flying * Daily Telegraph *A dazzling book, perfectly combining deep scholarship and easy readability. The most important addition to Crusading literature since RuncimanA nuanced and often counterintuitive story of power politics, international diplomacy and war and, ultimately that very rare thing - a truly fresh interpretation of an old story * Time Out *Frankopan's qualities as a historian and writer are of a high order * BBC History Magazine *

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Book Synopsis''A groundbreaking study ... a masterclass in how to do intellectual history, and one that nobody with an interest in radical Islam should miss'' Tom Holland, New Statesman''Readers looking for a rigorous but lucid account of Islamic State''s ideas will be well-served by Maher''s book ... the first of its kind'' Kyle W. Orton, Wall Street JournalNo topic has gripped the public imagination so dramatically as the spectre of global jihadism. While much has been said about the way jihadists behave, their ideology remains poorly understood. Shiraz Maher charts the intellectual underpinnings of salafi-jihadism from its origins in the mountains of the Hindu Kush to the jihadist insurgencies of the 1990s and the 9/11 wars. His ground-breaking introduction to salafi-jihadism recalibrates our understanding of the ideas underpinning one of the most destructive political philosophies of our time.''Magisterial ... Essential reading'' RobinTrade ReviewAn excellent and original account of what jihadists actually think. Mr Maher goes well beyond previous works... in setting out a taxonomy of jihadist's system of beliefs. It will be a must-read work in the study of radicalism. * Economist *[A] groundbreaking study... one that nobody with an interest in radical Islam should miss. -- Tom Holland * New Statesman *Shiraz Maher makes it clear in his fascinating new book that we are witnessing a very recent phenomenon: "the greatest period of anti-western intellectual development in Salafi-jihadi thought took place in the years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. -- Patrick French * Guardian *A book that is the first of its kind, synthesizing work that has been done on the individual components of Salafi-jihadism. Readers looking for a rigourous but lucid account of Islamic State's ideas will be well-served * Wall St Journal *In this perceptive and lucid survey, Shiraz Maher, who has built up a justified reputation as an authority on contemporary Islamic extremism, traces the evolution of the key ideas behind one of the most significant religious and political movements of our time. He explains their origins, meanings and, above all, their real impact on violent militants over the last three or four decades. Comprehensive and thought-provoking, this is an important and timely contribution -- Jason Burke, author of The New Threat from Islamic MilitancySalafi-Jihadism provides an excellent and important insight into an intricately constructed religious and intellectual situation... it provides much-needed context to some of the most complex and consequential events in the world today. With its elegant, engaging style and crisp brevity, this book is an excellent investigation into a subject many of us would do well to learn that bit more about. * Middle East Eye *Although salafi Jihadism has profoundly shaped global politics for more than three decades, Shiraz Maher is the first to survey the doctrines that have animated and divided the movement. His book will be a standard reference for years to come. -- Will McCantsShiraz Maher does a first rate job of explaining a complex and important issue. Salafi-Jihadism is arguably the fastest growing current within the Muslim thought today and is essential to our understanding of how groups like the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda recruit and justify their acts -- Hassan HassanA work of genuine interest and originality...indispensable -- David Patrikarakos * Literary Review *In the recent flood of accounts of radical Islam, this one stands out. Maher's compelling exploration of Salafi jihadism achieves a level of clarity that perhaps could be produced only by someone who, like Maher, once adhered to that strain of thought. The book is exceptional also in its focus on theology: although Maher is a specialist in jihadist radicalization, he dwells little on jihadists' motivations, paying much more attention to their beliefs. * Foreign Affairs Magazine *

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Book SynopsisViolence has always played a part in the religious imagination, from symbols and myths to legendary battles, from colossal wars to the theater of terrorism. The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Violence surveys intersections between religion and violence throughout history and around the world.Trade ReviewThe authors of the volume's forty essays, who represent many disciplines including religion, anthropology, sociology, and political science, among others, offer a variety of ways of construing and explaining that relationship in both tradition-specific and cross-cultural contexts. The volume is thus a good resource for teaching as well as for brief introductions to the history of religion and violence in multiple traditions and to theories of religion and violence from multiple disciplines. * Rosemary Kellison, Religious Studies Review *[A] timely collection that provides a welcome guide to the emerging field of studies in violence and religion. Among only a few such efforts to survey the field as a whole, the book explores religious violence in both the past and present as well as in all its social, psychological, and theological complexities...this diverse volume is certainly well worth picking up, as all involved in such scholarship are sure to find something of pertinent interest. * Journal of Contemporary Religion *The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Violence is a welcome addition to the burgeoning scholarly literature on the relationship between religion and violence...it should definitely be read by all those interested in the various ways religion has been used to legitimate violence. * Politics, Religion, & Ideology *Quite excellent and easily navigated by specialists and nonspecialists alike. * CHOICE *Table of ContentsContributors ; Introduction: "The Enduring Relationship of Religion and Violence" - Mark Juergensmeyer, Margo Kitts, and Michael Jerryson ; Part I: Overview of Religious Traditions ; 1. Hindu: "Violence and Nonviolence at the Heart of Hindu Ethics" - Veena Das ; 2. Buddhist: "Buddhist Traditions and Violence" - Michael Jerryson ; 3. Sikh: "Sikh Traditions and Violence" - Cynthia Keppley Mahmood ; 4. Jewish: "Religion and Violence in the Jewish Traditions" - Ron Hassner and Gideon Aran ; 5. Christian:"Religion and Violence in Christian Traditions" - Lloyd Steffen ; 6. Islamic: "Muslim Engagement with Injustice and Violence"- Bruce Lawrence ; 7. African: "African Traditional Religion and Violence" - Nathalie Wlodarczyk ; 8. Pacific Island: "Religion and Violence in Pacific Island Societies" - Andrew Strathern and Pamela J. Stewart ; 9. Chinese: "Violence in Chinese Religious Traditions" - Meir Shahar ; Part II: Patterns and Themes ; 10. Evil: "The Religious Problem of Evil" - James Aho ; 11. Sacrifice: "Sacrifice/Human Sacrifice in Religious Traditions" - David Carrasco ; 12. Martyrdom: "Martyrdom in Islam" - David Cook ; 13. Self Mutilation: "Starvation and Self Mutilation in Religious Traditions" - Liz Wilson ; 14. Apocalypse: "Apocalyptic Religion and Violence" - Jamel Velji ; 15. Sacred War: "Cosmic War in Religious Traditions" - Reza Aslan ; 16. Genocide: "Genocide and the Religious Imaginary in Rwanda" - Christopher Taylor ; 17. Terrorism: "Terrorism as Performance Violence" - Mark Juergensmeyer ; 18. Torture: "Christianity and Torture" - Karen King ; 19. Just War: "Just War and Legal Restraints" - John Kelsay ; 20. Abortion: "Religiously Motivated Violence in the Abortion Debate" - Julie Ingersoll ; 21. Contested Sites: "Conflicts over Sacred Ground" - Ron E. Hassner ; 22. Political Violence: "Religion and Political Violence" - Monica Toft ; 23. Death Rituals: "Rituals of Death and Remembrance" - Susumu Shimazono and Margo Kitts ; 24. Violent Death: "Violent Death in Religious Imagination" - Margo Kitts ; Part III: Analytic Approaches ; 25. Sociology: "Religion and Violence from a Sociological Perspective" - John R. Hall ; 26. Anthropology: "Religion and Violence from an Anthropological Perspective" - Pamela J. Stewart and Andrew Strathern ; 27. Psychology: "Religion and Violence from a Psychological Perspective" - James W. Jones ; 28. Political Science: "Religion and Violence from a Political Science Perspective"- Daniel Philpott ; 29. Literary Theory: "Religion and Violence from Literary Perspectives" - Margo Kitts ; 30. Theology: "Religion and Violence from Christian Perspectives" - Charles Kimball ; Part IV: New Directions ; 31 Sacrifice: "Sacrificial Violence: A Problem in Ancient Religions" - Walter Burkert ; 32. Cities: "Cities as One Site for Religion and Violence" - Saskia Sassen ; 33. Armageddon: "Armageddon in Christian, Sunni and Shi'a Traditions" - Michael Sells ; 34. Phenomenal Violence: "Phenomenal Violence and the Philosophy of Religion" - Hent de Vries ; 35. Constructions of Evil : "The Construction of Evil and the Violence of Purification" - David Frankfurter ; 36. Mimetic Theory: "Mimetic Theories of Religion and Violence" - Wolfgang Palaver ; 37. Scarcity: "Religion and Scarcity: A New Theory for the Role of Religion in Violence" - Hector Avalos ; 38. Evolutionary Theory: "Ritual, Religion, and Violence: An Evolutionary Perspective" - Candance S. Alcorta and Richard Sosis ; 39. Rites of Terror: "Divergent Modes of Religiosity and Armed Struggle" - Harvey Whitehouse and Brian McQuinn ; 40. Sociotheology: "A Sociotheological Approach to Understanding Religious Violence" - Mark Juergensmeyer and Mona Sheik ; Index

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Book SynopsisIn 1144, the mutilated body of William of Norwich, a young apprentice leatherworker, was found abandoned outside the city''s walls. The boy bore disturbing signs of torture, and a story spread that it was a ritual murder, performed by Jews in imitation of the Crucifixion as a mockery of Christianity. The outline of William''s tale eventually gained currency far beyond Norwich, and the idea that Jews engaged in ritual murder became firmly rooted in the European imagination.E.M. Rose''s engaging book delves into the story of William''s murder and the notorious trial that followed to uncover the origin of the ritual murder accusation - known as the blood libel - in western Europe in the Middle Ages. Focusing on the specific historical context - 12th-century ecclesiastical politics, the position of Jews in England, the Second Crusade, and the cult of saints - and suspensefully unraveling the facts of the case, Rose makes a powerful argument for why the Norwich Jews (and particularly one JeTrade ReviewA landmark of historical research into the grotesque 800-year history of blood-libel accusations. * Wall Street Journal *Lucid and exhaustively researched * The Times Literary Supplement *A tremendous book. This is forensic historical reasoning allied to hugely readable storytelling: part murder mystery, part masterly thesis exploring a deeply unpleasant and sinister aspect of medieval culture, which is still of immense significance today. The Murder of William of Norwich is one the most stimulating pieces of serious historical storytelling I have read all year. * The Sunday Times *Our explanation for Jewish creativity is that Jews have learned from experience that the entire world can believe something that is demonstrably false, such as the blood libel. This fine book takes us back in time to what may have been the first false accusation that a Jew (or 'the Jews') killed a Christian to obtain his blood for ritual purposes. It explains, without justifying, how so many could be so wrong for so long. * Alan Dershowitz, author of Abraham: The World's First (But Certainly Not Last) Jewish Lawyer *E.M. Rose's book on the murder of William of Norwich is a breathtaking work of revision that addresses one of the central questions in the history of Christian/Jewish relations in the Middle Ages, a topic of enormous relevance in the contemporary world and one around which there is considerable scholarly contestation. The book is a brilliant piece of historical investigation and a marvelous read as well. * Gabrielle Spiegel, Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of History, Johns Hopkins University *The storytelling by this first-time author is quite voluble, with the pen of a master narrator. The text is never boring, picking up new lines just when the old ones had run their course. A brilliant entry by this author, leaving us wanting a next book soon. * Huffington Post *The Murder of William of Norwich is a sweeping revision of an influential scholarly story. Anyone who works on twelfth-century England, Anglo-Jewish history, or medieval and later antisemitisms will have to contend with this book. It is a significant accomplishment. * Adrienne Williams Boyarin, American Historical Review *The book is lively, well-written, and consistently interesting.Table of ContentsPart 1: The Monk, the Knight, the Bishop and the Banker Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: The Discovery of a Dead Body Chapter 3: Background: Civil War and Crusade Chapter 4: The Trial Chapter 5: The Narrative Part 2: The Earl, the Count, the Abbot, and the King Introduction Chapter 6: Gloucester Chapter 7: Blois Chapter 8: Bury St. Edmunds Chapter 9: Paris Chapter 10: Conclusion

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Book SynopsisWhile there exists no evidence to date that the indigenous inhabitants of Arabia knew of holy war prior to Islam, holy war ideas and behaviors appear already among Muslims during the first generation. This book focuses on why and how such a seemingly radical development took place. Basing his hypothesis on evidence from the Qur''an and early Islamic literary sources, Firestone locates the origin of Islamic holy war and traces its evolution as a response to the changes affecting the new community of Muslims in its transition from ancient Arabian culture to the religious civilization of Islam.Trade ReviewThis study casts new light on the difficulties experienced by the new Muslims as they adjusted from revered customs to a divinely directed new allegiance. It will add to our understanding of the first decades of Islam and further explain why success grew out of apparent failure. Not least is shows the human realities that lie beneath the surface of the historical sources and how the demands of religious conviction could overcome even the most deep-rooted conservatism. * David Thomas, Reviews in Religion and Theology *

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Book SynopsisConflict and dispute pervade political and policy discussions. Moreover, unequal power relations tend to heighten levels of conflict. In this context of contention, figuring out ways to accommodate others and reach solutions that are agreeable to all is a perennial challenge for activists, politicians, planners, and policymakers. John Forester is one of America''s eminent scholars of progressive planning and dispute resolution in the policy arena, and in Dealing with Differences he focuses on a series of ''hard cases''--conflicts that appeared to be insoluble yet which were resolved in the end. Forester ranges across the country--from Hawaii to Maryland to Washington State--and across issues--the environment, ethnic conflict, and HIV. Throughout, he focuses on how innovative mediators settled seemingly intractable disputes. Between pessimism masquerading as ''realism'' and the unrealistic idealism that ''we can all get along,'' Forester identifies the middle terrain where disputes do aTrade ReviewIntended as a 'guide' to tackling complex social issues, Forester's book will serve as a very useful starting point for mediators and organizers alike. Many readers will benefit from reading it carefully to savor the message and reflect on the lessons, then looking for advice and inspiration, returning to it again and again. * Journal of Planning Educaiton and Research *Table of ContentsPART ONE: WHEN PARTIES CONFLICT, EXPECT THAT MORE'S POSSIBLE THAN ANYONE SAYS ; PART TWO: RESPECTING VALUE DIFFERENCES AND ACTING PRACTICALLY TOGETHER TOO ; PART THREE: FROM VENTING AND POSTURING TO LEARNING AND PROPOSING ; PART FOUR: FROM ARGUING TO INVENTING, FROM PRESUMING TO ENABLING ACTION

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Book SynopsisThis book contains some of the richest written material in existence for precolonial West Africa with unique insights into daily life in an Afro-Atlantic coastal trade settlement. Presenting the complete translated and annotated text of the Inquisition trial of Crispina Peres, an African woman born in the Guinea-Bissau region, of a Portuguese father and an African mother, it documents the Portuguese Inquisition''s religious persecution of Africans on African soil. Set in a slave port in 17th century West Africa, the trial focuses on the worldview of an African woman accused of engaging in African rites and witchcraft, who is imprisoned and brought before Inquisitioners in Lisbon. It highlights her resourcefulness, resilience and spirited defence of her innocence, providing precious details on her life, household, work, health and social and commercial networks in this understudied African region.Table of ContentsMaps Maps Glossary Introduction Translation Index

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Book SynopsisThe Thirty Years'' War (1618-48) was Europe''s most destructive conflict prior to the two world wars. Two of European history''s greatest generals faced each other at Lützen in November 1632, mid-way through this terrible war. Neither achieved his objective. Albrecht von Wallenstein withdrew his battered imperial army at nightfall, unaware that his opponent, King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, had died a few hours earlier. The indecisive military outcome found an immediate echo in image and print, and became the object of political and historical disputes. Swedish propaganda swiftly fostered the lasting image of the king''s sacrifice for the Protestant cause against the spectre of Catholic Habsburg ''universal monarchy''. The standard assumption that the king had ''met his death in the hour of victory'' became integral to how Gustavus Adolphus''s contribution to modern warfare has been remembered, even celebrated, while the study of Lützen''s wider legacy shows how such events are constantly rewritten as elements of propaganda, religious and national identity, and professional military culture. The battle''s religious and political associations also led to its adoption as a symbol by those advocating German unification under Prussian leadership. The battlefield remains a place of pilgrimage to this day and a site for the celebration of Protestant German and Nordic culture. This book is the first to combine analysis of the battle itself with an assessment of its cultural, political and military legacy, and the first to incorporate recent archaeological research within a reappraisal of the events and their significance. It challenges the accepted view that Lützen is a milestone in military development, arguing instead that its impact was more significant on the cultural and political level.Trade ReviewA very readable book. Highly recommended for anyone wishing to understand more about the Thirty Years' War. An excellent addition to OUP's Great Battles series. * Chris May, Battlefield *With this beautiful, well-illustrated book, Wilson has propelled Lutzen from moderate obscurity to its rightful place in history ... OUP have worked in great harmony with a renowned historian to produce a thought-provoking, highly readable piece of scholarship. * Patrick Mercer, Military History Monthly *Table of Contents1: Introduction 2: Context 3: Campaign 4: Battle 5: Military Legacy 6: Political and Cultural Legacy 7: Conclusion Appendix: Orders of battle Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisIslamophobia has been on the rise since September 11, as seen in countless cases of discrimination, racism, hate speeches, physical attacks, and anti-Muslim campaigns. The 2006 Danish cartoon crisis and the controversy surrounding Pope Benedict XVI''s Regensburg speech have underscored the urgency of such issues as image-making, multiculturalism, freedom of expression, respect for religious symbols, and interfaith relations. The 1997 Runnymede Report defines Islamophobia as dread, hatred, and hostility towards Islam and Muslims perpetuated by a series of closed views that imply and attribute negative and derogatory stereotypes and beliefs to Muslims. Violating the basic principles of human rights civil liberties, and religious freedom, Islamophobic acts take many different forms. In some cases, mosques, Islamic centers, and Muslim properties are attacked and desecrated. In the workplace, schools, and housing, it takes the form of suspicion, staring, hazing, mockery, rejection, stigmatiTrade ReviewThis cannot be verbalized; it must be seen.... * Murad Wilfried Hofmann, The Muslim World Book Review *Edited with skill by John L. Esposito and Ibrahim Kalin...Together the authors give a comprehensive, well-documented account of the historical roots of present-day Islamophobia. * Times Literary Supplement *This well-presented collection of essays goes far towards analysing the nature of the problem and canvassing thereby the issues that need to be tackled if Islamophobia is to be eradicated...essential reading for all for whom Islamophobia is a pressing concern. * Douglas Pratt, Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations *Table of ContentsFOREWORD EKMELEDDIN IHSANOGLU, SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE ORGANIZATION OF ISLAMIC CONFERENCE; INTRODUCTION JOHN L. ESPOSITO; THE CONTEXT OF ISLAMOPHOBIA; CASE STUDIES; MANIFESTATIONS; BIBLIOGRAPHY; INDEX

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Book SynopsisJimmy Yu reveals that in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, self-inflicted violence was an essential and sanctioned part of Chinese culture. He examines a wide range of practices, including blood writing, filial body-slicing, chastity mutilations and suicides, ritual exposure, and self-immolation, arguing that each practice was public, scripted, and a signal of certain cultural expectations.Trade Reviewthis is an important and original study that should be widely read by students of Chinese culture and society. * Wilt L. Idema, Comptes Rendus *Table of ContentsList of illustrations ; Acknowledgement ; A Note on Dynasties and Reigns ; Introduction ; 1. A Culture in Flux: Historical Background ; 2. Embodying the Text through Blood Writing ; 3. Nourishing the Parent with One's Own Flesh ; 4. Chaste Widows as Entertainment and Revenants ; 5. Exposing and Burning the Body for Rain ; 6. Conclusion ; Character Glossary ; Abbreviations and Conventions ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisThe early sixteenth century saw a major crisis in Christian-Jewish relations: the attempt to confiscate and destroy every Jewish book in Germany. This unprecedented effort to end the practice of Judaism throughout the empire was challenged by Jewish communities, and, unexpectedly, by Johannes Reuchlin (1455-1522), the founder of Christian Hebrew studies. In 1510, Reuchlin wrote an extensive, impassioned, and ultimately successful defense of Jewish writings and legal rights, a stunning intervention later acknowledged by a Jewish leader as a ''''miracle within a miracle.''''The fury that greeted Reuchlin''s defense of Judaism resulted in a protracted heresy trial that polarized Europe. The decade-long controversy promoted acceptance of humanist culture in northern Europe and, in several key settings, created an environment that was receptive to the nascent Reformation movement. The legal and theological battles over charges that Reuchlin''s positions were impermissibly favorable to Jews,Trade ReviewRichly detailed yet lucid and eminently readable...Price's study is refreshingly balanced in its judgements. He has painstakingly researched original sources and the voluminous previous scholarship in several languages, and has compressed a thorough analysis of the complexities of the topic into a mere 230 pages...Price's penetrating study is an outstanding book with much to offer historians of humanism and the Reformation. * Times Literary Supplement *Table of Contents1. "Impermissibly Favorable to Jews?" ; 2. Humanist Origins ; 3. Humanism at Court ; 4. Discovery of Hebrew ; 5. Johannes Pfefferkorn and the Campaign against Jews ; 6. Who Saved the Jewish Books? ; 7. Inquisition ; 8. Trial at Rome and the Christian Debates ; 9. The Luther Affair ; 10. "As If the First Martyr of Hebrew Letters" ; Bibliography

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Book Synopsis"Strong religion" draws on the results of the Fundamentalism Project to answer questions on the future of fundamentalism, the turn to violence and the threats posed to human rights, security and democratic forms of government.Trade Review"At a time when misinformation and common misperceptions might aggravate international conflicts, Strong Religion offers an explanatory framework for understanding fundamentalisms around the world and establishes a vocabulary necessary for dialogue among different faiths and peoples." - Martin E. Marty

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Book SynopsisA provocative examination of how religious practices of forgetting drive white Christian nationalism. The dual traumas of colonialism and slavery are still felt by Native Americans and African Americans as victims of ongoing violence toward people of color today. In The Feeling of Forgetting, John Corrigan calls attention to the trauma experienced by white Americans as perpetrators of this violence. By tracing memory's role in American Christianity, Corrigan shows how contemporary white Christian nationalism is motivated by a widespread effort to forget the role race plays in American society. White trauma, Corrigan argues, courses through American culture like an underground river that sometimes bursts forth into brutality, terrorism, and insurrection. Tracing the river to its source is a necessary first step toward healing. Trade Review"With unabashed frankness and unrelenting truth-telling, Corrigan offers much-needed clarity to the ongoing attempts to account for enduring racism and religious hatred that too often portray the coexistence of Christianity and racism as an unfortunate contradiction or oversimplify the relationship between ideology and violence. A game-changing study." -- Sylvester Johnson, Virginia Tech“Corrigan draws on a lifetime of research and writing about religion, race, and violence to offer insights where others have shrugged with befuddlement. White racial anxiety, he argues, is a feeling produced by the unsuccessful labor of forgetting the violence inherent to chattel slavery and Native dispossession. The result is a charged meditation on religious whiteness in the United States.” -- Jennifer Graber, University of Texas at Austin“Corrigan offers a nuanced look at America’s sorry history of racism, violence, and trauma from the colonial era to January 6 and beyond, taking on American Christianity’s proclivity for forgetting our society’s traumatic past. This is a wise and important book with the potential to reshape our national discourse." -- Randall Balmer, Dartmouth College“Through a sweeping critical review of interdisciplinary work on emotions, trauma, memory, and history, Corrigan carefully assembles a way to understand the intergenerational transmission of trauma among both victims and perpetrators of collective violence. A remarkable and courageous book.” -- William M. Reddy, Duke UniversityTable of ContentsIntroduction: Bad Memories Chapter 1: Colonial Legacies Chapter 2: Trauma Chapter 3: Emotion Chapter 4: Forgetting and Remembering Chapter 5: Anxiety, Erasure, and Affect Chapter 6: Race, Religion, and Nation Conclusion: The Feeling of Forgetting Acknowledgments Notes Index

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Book SynopsisDistinguished novelists, philosophers, historians, sociologists, and political scientists propose a new approach to settling multicultural tensions in the modern world.Trade ReviewThe contributors to this volume open up fertile new ground exploring problems, hypotheses, and recommendations in provocative and original ways. Readers will find the fresh thinking exhibited in these pages eye-opening and mind-expanding. -- Hans Oberdiek, Swarthmore College Alfred Stepan and Charles Taylor have played a leading role in getting us to rethink the meaning of political secularism, above all to undermine the simplistic notions that secularism means an absolute separation of 'church and state,' that this is essential to democracy, and that there is only one institutional template for achieving a secular polity. In this collection of essays, they have assembled a set of contributors who look at the varied ways in which quite different societies, past and present, Western and non-Western, have tried to achieve multireligious coexistence and the role of the state in that process. This is just the kind of historical and theoretical inquiry we need as we work through the challenge of crafting a suitably multiculturalized set of secularisms. -- Tariq Modood, University of Bristol A welcome and felicitous addition to the vast literature on the subject. Journal of Church and StateTable of ContentsIntroduction, by Alfred Stepan and Charles Taylor Religion and the Imagination, by Salman Rushdie with Gauri Viswanathan Part 1. Classical Western Approaches to Toleration A Form of Liberty and Indulgence: Toleration as a Layered Institution, by Ira Katznelson How to Define Secularism, by Charles Taylor Secularism: Its Content and Context, by Akeel Bilgrami Half-Toleration: Concordia and the Limits of Dialogue, by Nadia Urbinati Part 2. Before and Beyond Classical Approaches to Toleration Beyond Toleration: Civility and Principled Coexistence in Asokan Edicts, by Rajeev Bhargava Empire and Toleration: A Comparative Sociology of Toleration Within Empire, by Karen Barkey Modernity, State, and Toleration in Indian History: Exploring Accommodations and Partitions, by Sudipta Kaviraj Muslims and Toleration: Unexamined Contributions to the Multiple Secularisms of Modern Democracies, by Alfred Stepan Contributors Index

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