Lost History: The Enduring Legacy of Muslim Scientists, Thinkers, and Artists


Michael Hamilton Morgan - 2007
    Essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the major role played by the early Muslim world in influencing modern society, Lost History fills an important void. Written by an award-winning author and former diplomat with extensive experience in the Muslim world, it provides new insight not only into Islam's historic achievements but also the ancient resentments that fuel today's bitter conflicts.Michael Hamilton Morgan reveals how early Muslim advancements in science and culture lay the cornerstones of the European Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and modern Western society. As he chronicles the Golden Ages of Islam, beginning in 570 a.d. with the birth of Muhammad, and resonating today, he introduces scholars like Ibn Al-Haytham, Ibn Sina, Al-Tusi, Al-Khwarizmi, and Omar Khayyam, towering figures who revolutionized the mathematics, astronomy, and medicine of their time and paved the way for Newton, Copernicus, and many others. And he reminds us that inspired leaders from Muhammad to Suleiman the Magnificent and beyond championed religious tolerance, encouraged intellectual inquiry, and sponsored artistic, architectural, and literary works that still dazzle us with their brilliance. Lost History finally affords pioneering leaders with the proper credit and respect they so richly deserve.

Byzantium: The Early Centuries


John Julius Norwich - 1988
    48 pages ofillustrations, 16 in color. Maps.

Elbow Room: A Tale of Tenacity on Kodiak Island, Alaska


D.D. Fisher - 2011
    From humorous fishing excursions and frightening bear encounters to snow blinding blizzards and quirky characters, they come face to face with the unpredictable Mother Nature and learn the value of friendship, survival, and solitude in a picturesque but harsh life by the sea. Packed with adventures, challenges, and true Alaskan lifestyle.

Mormonism in Transition: A History of the Latter-day Saints, 1890-1930


Thomas G. Alexander - 1986
    A classic study of an influential American religion....Provides both the specialist in religion and the general reader with a thoughtful history of this complex religion.

Then and Now Bible Maps


Rose Publishing - 2011
    This fascinating reference tool contains seventeen Bible maps showing the locations of ancient cities and countries in comparison with modern-day cities and boundaries. What a great way to compare places in today's news with places in the Bible.You will love the amazing Then & Now Bible Maps eBook. The Then and Now Maps make the Bible more relevant and meaningful by showing biblical sites in relation to modern day cities and countries. The widely acclaimed Then and Now Bible Maps eBook from Rose Publishing brings fresh perspective to traditional Bible accounts. When you see biblical places compared with modern-day cities and countries, you can experience the Bible in a richer way. A few examples: • Daniel was taken as POW to Babylon and lived there the rest of his life. The ruins of Babylon are south of Baghdad, in present day Iraq. • The ruins of Nineveh are in Northern Iraq near the Kurdish city of Mosul • The wise men were probably from Iran or Saudi Arabia • Queen Esther's palace in Susa was about 100 miles northeast of Kuwait CityThen & Now Bible Maps makes it easy to see where Persia is today and the places Paul's first missionary journey would take him if traveling the same route today. Below are just a few of the maps included in this incredible resource: • The Middle East map during Bible times and today • The Assyrian Empire, Babylonian Kingdoms and Persian Empire • The Holy Land: 1020 BC and 900 BC & Now • Places of Jesus' Ministry Then (26-30 AD) & NowThen & Now Bible Maps eBook makes it easy to compare locations that are familiar in the Bible with modern day locations. On each of the seventeen maps, Bible places are shown in black type and modern-day cities and countries appear in red type. The maps also provide helpful historic information. For example: • "The Holy Land: Then & Now" shows the historical and modern-day names of cities within the regions occupied by the Twelve Tribes and how the Twelve Tribes divide up the land. • "Paul's Journeys: Then & Now" shows the Seven Churches of Asia found in Revelation 1-3 (now in present day Turkey), cities and towns, ancient ruins, mountains, modern capital cities and a key for measuring the distance traveled from city to city • "Empires & Kingdoms: Then & Now" shows the changing boundaries of the Assyrian Empire, Babylonian Kingdom, and Persian EmpireThen & Now Bible Maps is a fascinating resource that you will refer to again and again when you are studying the Bible.

The Venture of Islam, Vol 1: The Classical Age of Islam


Marshall G.S. Hodgson - 1974
    In this three-volume study, illustrated with charts and maps, Hodgson traces and interprets the historical development of Islamic civilization from before the birth of Muhammad to the middle of the twentieth century. This work grew out of the famous course on Islamic civilization that Hodgson created and taught for many years at the University of Chicago."This is a nonpareil work, not only because of its command of its subject but also because it demonstrates how, ideally, history should be written."—The New Yorker Volume 1, The Classical Age of Islam, analyzes the world before Islam, Muhammad's challenge, and the early Muslim state between 625 and 692. Hodgson then discusses the classical civilization of the High Caliphate. The volume also contains a general introduction to the complete work and a foreword by Reuben Smith, who, as Hodgson's colleague and friend, finished the Venture of Islam after the author's death and saw it through to publication.

A Vanished World: Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Medieval Spain


Chris Lowney - 2005
    Medieval Spaniards introduced Europeans to papermanufacture, Hindu-Arabic numerals, philosophical classics, algebra, citrus fruits, cotton, and new medical techniques. Her mystics penned classics of Kabbalah and Sufism. More astonishing than Spain's wide-ranging accomplishments, however, was the simple fact that until the destruction of thelast Muslim Kingdom by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in 1492, Spain's Muslims, Christians, and Jews often managed to bestow tolerance and freedom of worship on the minorities in their midst. A Vanished World chronicles this panoramic sweep of human history and achievement, encompassing both the agony of Jihad, Crusades, and Inquisition, and the glory of a multi-religious, multi-cultural civilization that forever changed the West. Lowney shows how these three controversialreligious groups once lived and worked together in Spain, creating commerce, culture, art, and architecture. He reveals how these three faith groups eventually veered into a thicket of resentment and violence, and shows how our current policies and approaches might lead us down the same path. Rising above politics, propaganda, and name-calling, A Vanished World provides a hopeful meditation on how relations among these three faith groups have gone wrong and some ideas on how to make their interactions right.

Killing America: A 100 Year Murder: Forty Historical Wounds That Bill O'Reilly Didn't Write About


M.S. King - 2015
    You may not be able to put your finger on it, but you sense it instinctively.How can you not sense it? For the first time ever, both the majority of the younger and the older generations of America now believe that future generations will not be as prosperous as their parents’ generation was. And that’s only the economic pessimism. On the social and cultural fronts, how many of us can truly say that we are proud are what our society has degenerated to?Make no mistake; the America we once knew has indeed been murdered. How did we arrive at this point of perpetual debt, perpetual inflation, massive taxation, chronically high unemployment, disintegrating families, massive dependency on the state, perpetual war, and ever-worsening moral degeneracy, mass psychological depression, and cultural degradation?Who did it? Why did they do it? How did they do it? How was the ‘murder’ concealed from the American people?Through the use of 40 clear, concise and very easy-to-digest illustrated ‘blurbs’ (The 40 Wounds), Killing America: The 100 Year Murder will answer those questions for you. This is a mass-distribution booklet designed for ‘crash-course’ simplicity. Please share it with others.

Osman's Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire


Caroline Finkel - 2005
    His vision was soon realized: At its height, the Ottoman realm extended from Hungary to the Persian Gulf, from North Africa to the Caucasus. The Ottoman Empire was one of the largest and most influential empires in world history. For centuries, Europe watched with fear as the Ottomans steadily advanced their rule across the Balkans. Yet travelers and merchants were irresistibly drawn toward Ottoman lands by their fascination with the Orient and the lure of profit. Although it survived for over six centuries, the history of the Ottoman Empire is too often colored by the memory of its bloody final throes. In this magisterial work Caroline Finkel lucidly recounts the epic story of the Ottoman Empire from its origins in the thirteenth century through its destruction on the battlefields of World War I.

Blue Ribbons Bitter Bread: Joice Loch, Australia's Most Heroic Woman


Susanna de Vries - 2000
    She had the inspired courage that saved many hundreds of Jews and Poles in World War II, the compassion that made her a self-trained doctor to tens of thousands of refugees, the incredible grit that took her close to death in several theatres of war, and the dedication to truth and justice that shone forth in her own books and a lifetime of astonishing heroism.Born in a cyclone in 1887 on a Queensland sugar plantation she grew up in grinding poverty in Gippsland and emerged from years of unpaid drudgery by writing a children's book and freelance journalism. In 1918 she married Sydney Loch, author of a banned book on Gallipoli. After a dangerous time in Dublin during the Troubles, they escaped from possible IRA vengeance to work with the Quakers in Poland. There they rescued countless dispossessed people from disease and starvation and risked death themselves.In 1922 Joice and Sydney went to Greece to aid the 1,500,000 refugees fleeing Turkish persecution. Greece was to become their home. They lived in an ancient tower by the sea in the shadows of Athos, the Holy Mountain, and worked selflessly for decades to save victims of war, famine and disease.During World War II, Joice Loch was an agent for the Allies in Eastern Europe and pulled off a spectacular escape to snatch over a thousand Jews and Poles from death just before the Nazis invaded Bucharest, escorting them via Constantinople to Palestine. By the time she died in 1982 she had written ten books, saved many thousands of lives and was one of the world's most decorated women. At her funeral the Greek Orthodox Bishop of Oxford named her 'one of the most significant women of the twentieth century.'This classic Australian biography is a tribute to one of Australia's most heroic women, who always spoke with great fondness of Queensland as her birthplace. In 2006, a Loch Memorial Museum was opened in the tower by the sea in Ouranoupolis, a tribute to the Lochs and their humanitarian work.

The Orthodox Church


Kallistos Ware - 1963
    Orthodoxy continues to be a subject of enormous interest among Western Christians and the author believes that an understanding of its standpoint is necessary before the Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches can be reunited. In this newly revised and updated edition he explains the Orthodox views on widely ranging matters as Ecumenical Councils, Sacraments, Free Will, Purgatory, the Papacy and the relationship between the different Orthodox churches.In Part One he describes the history of the Eastern Church over the last two thousand years with particular reference to its problems in twentieth-century Russia: and in Part Two he explains the beliefs and worship of the Orthodox Church today. Finally, he considers the possibilities of reunion between the East and the West. In this latest edition, he takes full account of the totally new situation confronting Eastern Christians since the collapse of Communism.

God's War: A New History of the Crusades


Christopher Tyerman - 2006
     From 1096 to 1500, European Christians fought to recreate the Middle East, Muslim Spain, and the pagan Baltic in the image of their God. The Crusades are perhaps both the most familiar and most misunderstood phenomena of the medieval world, and here Christopher Tyerman seeks to recreate, from the ground up, the centuries of violence committed as an act of religious devotion. The result is a stunning reinterpretation of the Crusades, revealed as both bloody political acts and a manifestation of a growing Christian communal identity. Tyerman uncovers a system of belief bound by aggression, paranoia, and wishful thinking, and a culture founded on war as an expression of worship, social discipline, and Christian charity. This astonishing historical narrative is imbued with figures that have become legends--Saladin, Richard the Lionheart, Philip Augustus. But Tyerman also delves beyond these leaders to examine the thousands and thousands of Christian men--from Knights Templars to mercenaries to peasants--who, in the name of their Savior, abandoned their homes to conquer distant and alien lands, as well as the countless people who defended their soil and eventually turned these invaders back. With bold analysis, Tyerman explicates the contradictory mix of genuine piety, military ferocity, and plain greed that motivated generations of Crusaders. He also offers unique insight into the maturation of a militant Christianity that defined Europe's identity and that has forever influenced the cyclical antagonisms between the Christian and Muslim worlds. Drawing on all of the most recent scholarship, and told with great verve and authority, God's War is the definitive account of a fascinating and horrifying story that continues to haunt our contemporary world. (20060724)

Dispatches from Bitter America: A Gun Toting, Chicken Eating Son of a Baptist’s Culture War Stories


Todd Starnes - 2012
    Along the way, he shares exclusive interviews with political commentator Sean Hannity, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, cooking sensation Paula Deen, and pop singer Amy Grant, always hoping to go from bitter to better.Endorsements:"In Dispatches From Bitter America this 'Great American' finds that not only is our American way of life under attack, but also that most Americans do in fact love God, this country, their families, and are anything but bitter!"Sean Hannity, New York Times best-selling author, FOX News host of Hannity"Todd Starnes combines sound research with his signature wit to tell the stories of regular Americans who are standing up to a secular movement that seeks to remove all religious expression from the public square. This is a compelling book that puts our entire existence into the perspective of eternity."Tony Perkins, president, Family Research Council"You will cheer for America while laughing your head off!"Matt Patrick, News/Talk 740 KTRH in Houston, TX"Todd Starnes captures the sentiments many Americans feel as they helplessly watch the traditional values they grew up with being stomped out and over-ruled by political correctness.  Todd's stories will strike a chord, whether it's 'The War on Christmas,' 'Tag, You're Out,' or 'The Chocolate Czar.' Brownies now banned from school?  Bah humbug."Gretchen Carlson, co-host, Fox and Friends"Dispatches from Bitter America features Todd Starnes at his best. With his trademark wit, Todd tackles questions being asked by Americans who wonder what is happening to our country. Starnes manages to get to the heart of the matter in a way that is both packed with information and sprinkled with humor. Todd Starnes is a man of immense faith, madly in love with our country, and endowed by his Creator with the unique talent to tell a story like very few can. Simply put, Dispatches From Bitter America is the best book that I have read this year!"Jeff Katz, morning host, Talk Radio 1200 in Boston, MA"Todd Starnes is a masterful storyteller. In Dispatches of a Bitter America, he offers commentary on today's current events through the lens of a self-proclaimed gun toting, fried-chicken-eating son of a Baptist. Todd has always been one of my favorite news personalities and good friends. Now he is one of my favorite storytellers. Warning: don't start reading this book unless you are prepared to finish it. It's just that good."Thom S. Rainer, president and CEO, LifeWay Christian Resources

Muhammad and the Believers: At the Origins of Islam


Fred M. Donner - 2010
    The traditional view, which presents Islam as a self-consciously distinct religion tied to the life and revelations of the prophet Muhammad in western Arabia, has since the 1970s been challenged by historians engaged in critical study of the Muslim sources.In "Muhammad and the Believers," the eminent historian Fred Donner offers a lucid and original vision of how Islam first evolved. He argues that the origins of Islam lie in what we may call the "Believers' movement" begun by the prophet Muhammad a movement of religious reform emphasizing strict monotheism and righteous behavior in conformity with God's revealed law. The Believers' movement thus included righteous Christians and Jews in its early years, because like the Qur'anic Believers, Christians and Jews were monotheists and agreed to live righteously in obedience to their revealed law. The conviction that Muslims constituted a separate religious community, utterly distinct from Christians and Jews, emerged a century later, when the leaders of the Believers' movement decided that only those who saw the Qur'an as the final revelation of the One God and Muhammad as the final prophet, qualified as Believers. This separated them decisively from monotheists who adhered to the Gospels or Torah.

Great Swan: Meetings with Ramakrishna


Lex Hixon - 1992
    Editorial Reviews Hixon, a disciple of both Ramakrishna's wife and his spiritual successor, provides contemporary commentary based on The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna and The Great Master . This retelling in clear contemporary English requires no background knowledge and makes accessible the ideas of a most remarkable Hindu saint who worshipped Kali, the Divine Mother, but also experienced union with Jesus, Muhammad, and Allah. Hixon claims his book ``is not a conventional biography but a workbook'' to provide Ramakrishna's guidance to the spiritually inclined reader of any religious tradition and to clarify the mystical path. Hixon is self-effacing: what shines through is Ramakrishna sanctity and wisdom, as well as the devotion of his disciples. Recommended for most libraries.