tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130830332820181818.post8743057987586301156..comments2024-03-27T13:13:25.164-04:00Comments on johnshaplin: The First Crusadesjohnshaplinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17618981988062495637noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130830332820181818.post-31633500707262095062009-09-19T19:52:26.999-04:002009-09-19T19:52:26.999-04:00"The Crusades, Christanity and Islam by Jonat..."The Crusades, Christanity and Islam by Jonathan Riley-Smith"; Columbia University Press, N.Y., 2009<br /><br />Professor Emeritus of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Cambridge.<br /><br />The professor makes the point that contemporary popular notions about the Crusades in both the Christan and Islamic world are mistakenly founded on a 19th century perspective, chiefly through the fictions of Walter Scott and Joseph- Francois Michaud. <br /><br />Indeed, it is perhaps more accurrate to describe the current European and American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as 'crusades' rather than imperial or colonizing adventures at least in so far as might be estimated by any material advantage supposed to be gained thereby; products of 'pious patriotism' and the internal dynamics of domestic policy rather than any utilitarian estimate of material gain. Which also happens to be the case with some of the imperial adventures by Europeans in the 19th century, most notably the Germans in Africa.johnshaplinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17618981988062495637noreply@blogger.com