This collection of essays by seven highly respected scholars is a straightforward narrative of real world-intellectual, commercial, spiritual, philosophical, scientific, esthetic-creative engagement among Jews, Muslims, and some Christians in daily life in Spain and around the Mediterranean. History as Prelude is a major contribution to the Israeli-Arab peace process because it undermines-in fact, blows away-the efforts of propagandists who serve governments or political movements to negate the reality of the Arab-Jewish relationship in the medieval Mediterranean. The contributors, in unassuming, well-researched scholarship have erected a wall protecting historical reality from distortion, providing irrefutable-and often delightful-examples of creative coexistence.

Auteur
Joseph V. Montville is director of Toward the Abrahamic Family Reunion, (abrahamicfamilyreunion.org). He is also Distinguished Diplomat in Residence at American University and Chair of the Board & Senior Fellow for the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy, and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University. He is also a senior associate in the Center for the Study of Jewish-Christian-Muslim Relations at Merrimack College in N. Andover, MA.

Contenu
Chapter 1 Preface: Recovering History: A Psychodynamic Approach to Peacemaking
Chapter 2 1. Jewish and Islamic Life in the Middle Ages: Through the Window of the Cairo Geniza
Chapter 3 2. Sharing Science: Jews, Muslims and Practical Science in the Medieval Islamic World
Chapter 4 3. "The Battle of Alfuente" by Samuel the Nagid
Chapter 5 4. On Muslim Curiosity and the Historiography of the Jews of Yemen
Chapter 6 5. Doctors without Borders: Medicine in the Mediterranean World
Chapter 7 6. Merchants and Cross-Cultural Commerce in the Medieval Mediterranean World
Chapter 8 7. Sufism and Philosophy in Muslim Spain and the Medieval Mediterranean World