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Encountering Islam on the First Crusade
By Nicholas Morton. 2016
The First Crusade (1095–9) has often been characterised as a head-to-head confrontation between the forces of Christianity and Islam. For…
many, it is the campaign that created a lasting rupture between these two faiths. Nevertheless, is such a characterisation borne out by the sources? Engagingly written and supported by a wealth of evidence, Encountering Islam on the First Crusade offers a major reinterpretation of the crusaders' attitudes towards the Arabic and Turkic peoples they encountered on their journey to Jerusalem. Nicholas Morton considers how they interpreted the new peoples, civilizations and landscapes they encountered; sights for which their former lives in Western Christendom had provided little preparation. Morton offers a varied picture of cross cultural relations, depicting the Near East as an arena in which multiple protagonists were pitted against each other. Some were fighting for supremacy, others for their religion, many simply for survival.A Day with the Prophet
By Ahmad Von Denffer. 1979
This book invites Muslims and non-Muslims to acquaint themselves with the prophet's practice and teachings, hisSunnah, first hand. Relying exclusively…
upon the sayings and actions of the prophet, which have been selected and translated from authenticated and well-known collections of hadith literature, this book presents a close-up and composite picture of the life of the Prophet Muhammad, described in the Qur'an as the best model for humanity. Ahmad Von Denfferwas born in Germany in 1949. He studied Islamics and Social Anthropology at the Universty of Mainz. He works at the Islamic Centre, Munich, and has translated the Qur'an into German.Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations
By Michael Sells. 1999
Approaching the Qur'án is a major event in religious publishing. Professor Michael Sells has captured the complexity, power, and poetry…
of the early suras of the Qur'án, the sacred scripture of Islam. In this second edition, Sells introduces important new translations of suras and a new preface that addresses the ongoing controversy over teaching about Islam and the Qur'an in American universities. Approaching the Qur'án presents brilliant translations of the short, hymnic suras associated with the first revelations to the Prophet Muhammad. Most of these early revelations appear at the end of text and are commonly reached only by the most resolute reader of existing English translations. These suras contain some of the most powerful, prophetic and revelatory passages in religious history. They offer the vision of a meaningful and just life that anchors the religion of one-fifth of the world's inhabitants. Approaching the Qur'án is enriched by inclusion of free downloadable audio recordings of Quranic reciters, allowing readers an opportunity to hear the Qur'án in its original form. The book includes Sells' Introduction to the Qur'án, commentaries of the suras, a glossary of technical terms, and chapters discussing the sound nature and gender aspects of the Arabic text.Nevertheless, We Persisted: 48 Voices of Defiance, Strength, and Courage
By Amy Klobuchar. 2018
A powerful collection of essays from actors, activists, athletes, politicians, musicians, writers, and teens, including Senator Amy Klobuchar, actress Alia…
Shawkat, actor Maulik Pancholy, poet Azure Antoinette, teen activist Gavin Grimm, and many, many more, each writing about a time in their youth when they were held back because of their race, gender, or sexual identity--but persisted. "Aren't you a terrorist?" "There are no roles for people who look like you." "That's a sin." "No girls allowed." They've heard it all. Actress Alia Shawkat reflects on all the parts she was told she was too "ethnic" to play. Former NFL player Wade Davis recalls his bullying of gay classmates in an attempt to hide his own sexuality. Teen Gavin Grimm shares the story that led to the infamous "bathroom bill," and how he's fighting it. Holocaust survivor Fanny Starr tells of her harrowing time in Aushwitz, where she watched her family disappear, one by one. What made them rise up through the hate? What made them overcome the obstacles of their childhood to achieve extraordinary success? How did they break out of society's limited view of who they are and find their way to the beautiful and hard-won lives they live today? With a foreword by Minnesota senator and up-and-coming Democratic party leader Amy Klobuchar, these essays share deeply personal stories of resilience, faith, love, and, yes, persistence.The Commandments of Islam: A Qur’anic Summary
By Simon Leitch. 2016
The Qur'an is one of the most important and controversial books ever written, yet the vast majority of people have…
never read it. Is it the work of a dangerous radical, a divine message from the God of Abraham, or a liberal and peaceful doctrine worthy of all humanity? In this short, concise volume the fundamental commandments of Islam have been extracted from the Qur'an, and useful annotations explain the contemporary context and purpose of those commandments. Also containing a helpful introduction to Muhammad and life in medieval Arabia, The Commandments of Islam is an excellent starting point for those wishing to understand the beginnings of this complex religious tradition. In a field beset by polarised political debates, this volume takes viewers directly to the laws as written by Muhammad nearly fifteen hundred years ago, without having to wade through the broader Qur'anic text, and allows the readers to make up their own minds about the Qur'an's author, his times, and his extraordinary book.Interpreting Scriptures in Judaism, Christianity and Islam
By Rita Copeland, Jon Whitman, Cohen, Mordechai Z. and Bar-Asher, Meir M. and Copeland, Rita and Berlin, Adele Whitman, Jon, Mordechai Z. Cohen, Adele Berlin, Bar-Asher, Meir M.. 2016
This comparative study traces Jewish, Christian, and Muslim scriptural interpretation from antiquity to modernity, with special emphasis on the pivotal…
medieval period. It focuses on three areas: responses in the different faith traditions to tensions created by the need to transplant scriptures into new cultural and linguistic contexts; changing conceptions of the literal sense and its importance vis-à-vis non-literal senses, such as the figurative, spiritual, and midrashic; and ways in which classical rhetoric and poetics informed - or were resisted in - interpretation. Concentrating on points of intersection, the authors bring to light previously hidden aspects of methods and approaches in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. This volume opens new avenues for interdisciplinary analysis and will benefit scholars and students of biblical studies, religious studies, medieval studies, Islamic studies, Jewish studies, comparative religions, and theory of interpretation.Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World
By Edward W. Said. 1981
Can You Hear Me Now?
By Annie O'Sullivan. 2012
First published as only parts of her life, this book brings together the full life story of the woman known…
as Annie O'Sullivan. Horribly abused at the hand of her father, it is a collection of essays that graphically recount memories of her life as a confused child and young adult as she careened through life without compass, to ultimately, and against all odds, prosper. Culminating in the event that brought a degree of closure to her torture, O'Sullivan brings the reader on an intimate life journey through the eyes of this child’s misunderstanding, will to persevere and desire to seek goodness despite her circumstances.Terrifying, infuriating and uplifting, this book touches not only survivors; but parents, childcare workers and teachers; reminding us of the true vulnerability of children and our collective responsibility to protect them.How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America: Freedom, Politics, and the War on Sex
By Christina Page. 2006
With a new preface by the author. In the tradition of Backlash and The Morning After, and in a political…
climate where Roe v. Wade is in serious jeopardy, a young activist reveals that the Pro-Life Movement’s real agenda is a war on contraception, family planning, and sexual freedom.Down and Out Today: Notes from the Gutter
By Matthew Small. 2015
'Enlightening and startling... The world needs more writers like Matthew Small.' Charlie Carroll'Brings into sharp relief the realities of poverty...…
inspiring and uplifting.' Tracy Shildrick'A fascinating insight into what it feels like to live on the streets of the UK and India today.' Joanna Mack Poverty stretches across all of humanity and by travelling East, Small encounters the raw faces of poverty in India’s slums; he works in a leprosy community, and joins the Sisters of Mercy on the smoggy and exhilarating streets in Calcutta. He then returns to the UK, to Bath, to see what the passing of three months means to those who are scarred by one of the most unglamorous of all humanities’ ills, being poor.Small engages with different community members who are living with poverty, to answer these long standing questions: What’s keeping them down? What’s pushing them out? And how can we move forward?RU486: Misconceptions, Myths and Morals
By Lynette Dumble, Janice Raymond, Renate Klein. 2013
A classic text for health activists and feminists interested in the complexities of how drugs are developed, marketed, and sold…
to women around the world, this book reviews the unusual history of the French abortion pill RU-486. Critical of the positive claims made for RU-486, it argues that its promotion is filled with myths and misconceptions. Scrutinizing the science and politics behind RU-486, this account examines how the pill benefits the medical profession, drug companies, and government health economies and offers no advantage to women. Topics include the safety and effectiveness of RU-486, whether or not RU-486 privatizes and de-medicalizes abortion, and the dangerous effects of prostaglandins. This updated edition includes a new introduction.Shocking and gritty, this work contains firsthand accounts of terror and abuse from prostituted children--and the law enforcement officers and…
community activists working to save them. While detailing the necessity for substantive legal and cultural change on the national level in regard to prostitution, pimps, and children's rights, this book also provides encouraging stories of new, pioneering law enforcement initiatives and child-recovery strategies reaping positive results in urban areas inundated with children victimized by sexual exploitation and violence, such as Las Vegas, Atlantic City, New York City, Phoenix, and Dallas. This updated paperback edition includes a new, four-page afterword by the author, with updates on new laws and initiatives and follow-ups on some of the young women discussed in the book. A call to awareness and action for parents, legislators, and educators, this examination exposes this country's dirty secret.A call to action to protect the human rights of women and girls, this exposé reveals how interest groups deny…
the seriousness of rape to further their political agendas. Through firsthand interviews with victims; medical and judicial records; social media; and statistics from police, the FBI, and government agencies, this analysis explains the tactics used by these groups. The personal stories of young rape victims demonstrate how assaults on their credibility, buttressed by claims of low prevalence, prevent many from holding their rapists accountable, enabling them to rape others with impunity. A resources section is also included for those seeking help, advice, or hoping to become involved in the struggle.Science in History: Death in Beijing
By Daniel Asen. 2016
In this innovative and engaging history of homicide investigation in Republican Beijing, Daniel Asen explores the transformation of ideas about…
death in China in the first half of the twentieth century. In this period, those who died violently or under suspicious circumstances constituted a particularly important population of the dead, subject to new claims by police, legal and medical professionals, and a newspaper industry intent on covering urban fatality in sensational detail. Asen examines the process through which imperial China's old tradition of forensic science came to serve the needs of a changing state and society under these dramatically new circumstances. This is a story of the unexpected outcomes and contingencies of modernity, presenting new perspectives on China's transition from empire to modern nation state, competing visions of science and expertise, and the ways in which the meanings of death and dead bodies changed amid China's modern transformation.Civilizations of the Holy Land
By Paul Johnson. 1979
From the book s introduction civilizations of the holy land is an expression not easily…
defined in either space or time By the Holy Land most of us mean the stretch of Near-Eastern territory the nucleus of which is modern Palestine or Israel intimately associated with the great Religions of the Book Judaism Christianity and Islam Many of the events crucial to the origin and early development of these three faiths took place outside this geographical nucleus but cannot for that reason be ignored in this account Equally not all the cultures which have flourished in this region have been directly linked to the beliefs which to us make it holy but they are part of its history nonetheless and must be brought into the story The truth is that the history of this corner of the world is extremely complicated and does not easily accommodate itself to the straitjacket of a strictly systematic treatment In telling it we shall sometimes find ourselves digressing both in chronology and geography before resuming the main thread of our narrative In short we shall be closer to the methods of Herodotus than those of Thucydides - with a dash of Pausanias and Strabo thrown in No matter what the tale loses in clarity it may gain in colour History buffs and students of the Bible and Koran would find this book fascinating The understanding of either book will be enhanced by knowing the history and culture behind those books and the places of worship which they inspire From Canaaites to Crusaders Very readableThe Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan, and the Men Who Follow Him
By Dawn-Marie Gibson. 2016
This book examines the varied ways in which Minister Farrakhan's Resurrected Nation of Islam appeals to men from different backgrounds.…
Dawn-Marie Gibson investigates a number of themes including faith, family, and community, making use of archival research and engaging in-depth interviews. The book considers the multifaceted ways in which men encounter the Nation of Islam (NOI) and navigate its ethics and gender norms. Gibson describes and dissects the factors that attract men to the NOI, while also considering the challenges that these men confront as new converts. She discusses the various inter-faith and community outreach efforts that men engage in and assesses their work with both their Christian and Muslim counterparts. To conclude its discussion, the book takes a look at the NOI's 2015 Justice or Else March to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the Million Man March in Washington, DC.The Extreme Gone Mainstream: Commercialization and Far Right Youth Culture in Germany
By Cynthia Miller-Idriss. 2018
How extremism is going mainstream in Germany through clothing brands laced with racist and nationalist symbolsThe past decade has witnessed…
a steady increase in far right politics, social movements, and extremist violence in Europe. Scholars and policymakers have struggled to understand the causes and dynamics that have made the far right so appealing to so many people—in other words, that have made the extreme more mainstream. In this book, Cynthia Miller-Idriss examines how extremist ideologies have entered mainstream German culture through commercialized products and clothing laced with extremist, anti-Semitic, racist, and nationalist coded symbols and references.Drawing on a unique digital archive of thousands of historical and contemporary images, as well as scores of interviews with young people and their teachers in two German vocational schools with histories of extremist youth presence, Miller-Idriss shows how this commercialization is part of a radical transformation happening today in German far right youth subculture. She describes how these young people have gravitated away from the singular, hard-edged skinhead style in favor of sophisticated and fashionable commercial brands that deploy coded extremist symbols. Virtually indistinguishable in style from other popular clothing, the new brands desensitize far right consumers to extremist ideas and dehumanize victims.Required reading for anyone concerned about the global resurgence of the far right,The Extreme Gone Mainstream reveals how style and aesthetic representation serve as one gateway into extremist scenes and subcultures by helping to strengthen racist and nationalist identification and by acting as conduits of resistance to mainstream society.The Killing Season: A History of the Indonesian Massacres, 1965-66
By Geoffrey B Robinson. 2018
The Killing Season explores one of the largest and swiftest, yet least examined, instances of mass killing and incarceration in…
the twentieth century—the shocking antileftist purge that gripped Indonesia in 1965–66, leaving some five hundred thousand people dead and more than a million others in detention.An expert in modern Indonesian history, genocide, and human rights, Geoffrey Robinson sets out to account for this violence and to end the troubling silence surrounding it. In doing so, he sheds new light on broad and enduring historical questions. How do we account for instances of systematic mass killing and detention? Why are some of these crimes remembered and punished, while others are forgotten? What are the social and political ramifications of such acts and such silence?Challenging conventional narratives of the mass violence of 1965–66 as arising spontaneously from religious and social conflicts, Robinson argues convincingly that it was instead the product of a deliberate campaign, led by the Indonesian Army. He also details the critical role played by the United States, Britain, and other major powers in facilitating mass murder and incarceration. Robinson concludes by probing the disturbing long-term consequences of the violence for millions of survivors and Indonesian society as a whole.Based on a rich body of primary and secondary sources, The Killing Season is the definitive account of a pivotal period in Indonesian history. It also makes a powerful contribution to wider debates about the dynamics and legacies of mass killing, incarceration, and genocide.Inside Jihad: How Radical Islam Works; Why It Should Terrify Us; How to Defeat It
By Tawfik Hamid. 2015
Why radical Islam remains a deadly threat and why it is so pervasive in the Muslim world A quarter-century ago,…
Tawfik Hamid was recruited by Jamaa Islamiya, an Islamic terror group led by Dr. Aimon al-Zawahiri, the man who replaced Osama bin Laden to become the leader of al-Qaeda. Eventually, Dr. Hamid recognized the insidious nature of violent jihad and rejected its distortions of the Qur'an, the holy book of the Muslim faith. Ever since, he has pursued a path of reformation within Islam by writing new interpretations of the book's key texts and by sharing his message in mosques. Inside Jihad reveals Dr. Hamid's insights about the Islamic terror movement drawn from his personal experiences. As a medical doctor and a psychologist, he helps readers understand the jihadist mindset by explaining the meaning of jihad and the role that sex, petrodollars, and the hijab for women play in its proliferation. He shares his bold plan for an Islamic reformation and the religion's integration as one of the world's peaceful religions.Steal This Country: A Handbook for Resistance, Persistence, and Fixing Almost Everything
By Alexandra Styron. 2018
A walk-the-walk, talk-the-talk, hands-on, say-it-loud handbook for activist kids who want to change the world!Inspired by Abbie Hoffman's radical classic,…
Steal This Book, author Alexandra Styron's stirring call for resistance and citizen activism will be clearly heard by young people who don't accept "it is what it is," who want to make sure everybody gets an equal piece of the American pie, and who know that the future of the planet is now. Styron's irreverent and informative primer on how to make a difference is organized into three sections: The Why, The What, and The How. The book opens with a personal essay and a historic look at civil disobedience and teenage activism in America. That's followed by a deep dive into several key issues: climate change, racial justice, women's rights, LGBTQIA rights, immigration, religious understanding, and intersectionality. Each chapter is introduced by an original full page comic and includes a summary of key questions, interviews with movers and shakers--from celebrities to youth activists--and spotlights on progressive organizations. The book's final section is packed with how-to advice on ways to engage, from group activities such as organizing, marching, rallying, and petitioning to individual actions like voting with your wallet, volunteering, talking with relatives with different viewpoints, and using social activism to get out a progressive message. This is a perfect book for older middle-schoolers and teens who care about the planet, the people with whom they share it, and the future for us all.