Buy new:
$32.99
FREE delivery Tuesday, May 14 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Ships from: Amazon.com
Sold by: Amazon.com
$32.99
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Tuesday, May 14 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35. Order within 6 hrs 25 mins
In Stock
$$32.99 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$32.99
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon.com
Ships from
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
$17.19
Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority! Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority! See less
$3.99 delivery May 16 - 17. Details
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$32.99 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$32.99
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Ships from and sold by HPB-Emerald.
Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Paul M. Cobb
+ Follow
More books from this author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

The Race for Paradise: An Islamic History of the Crusades Reprint Edition

by Paul M. Cobb (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 73 ratings
See all formats and editions
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$32.99","priceAmount":32.99,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"32","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"99","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"fx17MwJB%2FH4gKfKDqhHqs6tg0rvvi3bMUFhYb9Mf88kPrZxezmQC0w94zegQhfjGA1onHZFgI7fSKL8mJoXpt22dqwkMkRZiAkNrvZ%2FQEz0R9HG65vMQ5o2127%2FivmvMcvzjDxYRO%2Fn8pz9QelPxnw%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$17.19","priceAmount":17.19,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"17","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"19","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"fx17MwJB%2FH4gKfKDqhHqs6tg0rvvi3bMApIs6ZzseMB12HOuDTQLDgDvipnEvrqJp3i906Mx59Ee%2BIfPqZbfl%2F%2FUIFR5X1f1ZVg3u7FlblQnyyuP2hxTwUa4SEahj1z%2FicX0pgYr9XbMGAXoL1Mrmu%2Fgtrz0ZyBLs7T11LxSzju91hZfG2BTj27xP5X2Cjkh","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

In 1099, when the first Frankish invaders arrived before the walls of Jerusalem, they had carved out a Christian European presence in the Islamic world that endured for centuries, bolstered by subsequent waves of new crusaders and pilgrims. The story of how this group of warriors, driven by faith, greed, and wanderlust, created new Christian-ruled states in parts of the Middle East is one of the best-known in history. Yet it is offers not even half of the story, for it is based almost exclusively on Western sources and overlooks entirely the perspective of the crusaded. How did medieval Muslims perceive what happened?

In The Race for Paradise, Paul M. Cobb offers a new history of the confrontations between Muslims and Franks we now call the "Crusades," one that emphasizes the diversity of Muslim experiences of the European holy war. There is more to the story than Jerusalem, the Templars, Saladin, and the Assassins. Cobb considers the Arab perspective on all shores of the Muslim Mediterranean, from Spain to Syria. In the process, he shows that this is not a straightforward story of warriors and kings clashing in the Holy Land, but a more complicated tale of border-crossers and turncoats; of embassies and merchants; of scholars and spies, all of them seeking to manage a new threat from the barbarian fringes of their ordered world. When seen from the perspective of medieval Muslims, the Crusades emerge as something altogether different from the high-flying rhetoric of the European chronicles: as a cultural encounter to ponder, a diplomatic chess-game to be mastered, a commercial opportunity to be seized, and as so often happened, a political challenge to be exploited by ambitious rulers making canny use of the language of jihad.

An engrossing synthesis of history and scholarship, The Race for Paradise fills a significant historical gap, considering in a new light the events that distinctively shaped Muslim experiences of Europeans until the close of the Middle Ages.
Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. ISBN-10
    0190614463
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0190614461
  3. Edition
    Reprint
  4. Publisher
    Oxford University Press
  5. Publication date
    September 1, 2016
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    8.2 x 1 x 5.4 inches
  8. Print length
    360 pages
  9. See all details
Next page
Books with Buzz
Books with Buzz
Discover the latest buzz-worthy books, from mysteries and romance to humor and nonfiction. Explore more

Frequently bought together

The Race for Paradise: An Islamic History of the Crusades
$32.99
Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 14
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
The Crusades: A Reader, Second Edition (Readings in Medieval Civilizations and Cultures)
$40.59
Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 14
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
Muslim Sources of the Crusader Period: An Anthology
$21.00
Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 14
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
Choose items to buy together.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Cobb has written an outstanding history of the Muslim experiences of the Crusades, based primarily on careful and thorough reading of the Muslim sources from the period....Perhaps the most important contribution that Cobb makes with this book is the breaking down of a number of commonly accepted conventions....Cobb has produced a book that will be an immensely useful resource for scholars and students working on the crusading period, as well as for interested laypersons, providing a valuable counterbalance to the plethora of histories of the Crusades written from the European perspective....[T]his book has the reviewer's highest recommendation."--Niall Christie, The Historian

"Cobb skillfully tells a good story, weaving entertaining vignettes into a clear yet nuanced narrative...[A] gripping tale energetically told. This is that rare book, carefully written and painstakingly researched, that entertains and educates while offering the fruits of modern scholarship to a general audience. We need more of them."--Speculum

"As Paul Cobb demonstrates in his splendidly detailed and timely narrative, lslamic authors and writers in Arabic showed a keen interest in the medieval Christian interlopers into the Muslim world, in political events and in the ideology of jihad that these conflicts revived. Cobb provides a useful corrective to ill-informed assumptions about medieval Islam and later Muslim recollections of the Crusades....Paul Cobb's case is elegantly and well made, a trenchant and welcome contribution to a discussion that is more than academic."--The Times Literary Supplement

"Cobb brings this history alive in a way that will interest both casual readers and experts alike....[The] multidisciplinary approach illuminates the experience of invaded societies in their chaotic and climactic contacts with the Other."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Writing in lively prose, Cobb...effortlessly weaves disparate events across the Islamic Mediterranean world into a seamless narrative of the Crusades....Cobb lucidly illustrates that, despite his book's title, most participants in the Crusades (on both sides) did not 'race for paradise.' Essential."--CHOICE

"This is an excellent book--lucid, insightful and informative. Cobb brings a fresh perspective to contact between Muslims and Christians during the medieval period, energetically transporting us across Islamic lands from Cordova to Baghdad, via Palermo, Cairo, Jerusalem and Damascus. Sharply-chosen anecdotes cleverly illuminate life beyond the confines of holy war to give a broad and rewarding understanding of the true context and multi-faceted nature of this complex and highly important relationship."--Jonathan Phillips, author of Holy Warriors: A Modern History of the Crusades

"Thoroughly researched, highly original and above all a pleasure to read--a superb overview for the general and the specialized reader alike that sets the Crusades within the larger framework of Islamic history."--Konrad Hirschler, SOAS, University of London, author of The Written Word in the Medieval Arabic Lands

"Paul Cobb's The Race for Paradise proves why medieval European history is not the only domain for Crusades study. With a fluid style and superb knowledge of sources, Cobb masterfully enshrines the Islamic narratives, reflecting several genres of scholarship, as fundamentally informative for Crusader history, and that the latter ought to be seen also as reflective of dynamics within the Islamic world. Indispensable for anyone interested in understanding the Crusades and the Muslim World at that time."--Suleiman A. Mourad, Smith College

"Lively and enjoyable reading, Paul Cobb's Race for Paradise also offers new insights into the well-worn territory of Crusades history, particularly by showing how the Crusades were part of a broader penetration of Latin Christian powers into the Mediterranean world in the second half of the eleventh century."--Hugh Kennedy, SOAS, University of London

Book Description

A rich and sweeping narrative that revises what we know of the Crusades by showing how they were viewed and experienced in the Arab world

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; Reprint edition (September 1, 2016)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 360 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0190614463
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0190614461
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.2 x 1 x 5.4 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 73 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Paul M. Cobb

Paul M. Cobb

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
73 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Bryan Gibby
5.0 out of 5 stars For the average reader and specialist alike
Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2015
Verified Purchase
Professor Paul Cobb's The Race for Paradise does what few books can -- appeal to academic specialists with detail and original sources while constructing an engaging and very interesting narrative story that informs how Mediterranean Muslim societies saw, reacted to, and adapted to the European crusades. His story is broad, beginning with Muslim-Christian conflict well before the traditional first crusade in 1095-1101. As Cobb elaborates, the tension between crusade and jihad had been ongoing for some time in places such as Sicily, Spain/Portugal, North Africa, eastern Mediterranean, long before Pope Urban II called for his holy war to retake Jerusalem. The book's final chapter take the reader past the Mamluk conquest of Acre in 1291, which marked the collapse of the Latin kingdoms in the Holy Land, to assess the rise and emergence of the Ottoman Empire, which was equally smitten with holy war as a means to expand and strengthen the Islamic world. The Ottoman conquest of Constantinople and the subsequent clashes in the Balkans and Hungary set the tone for conflict in that unhappy part of Europe for five hundred years -- and it's still going.

This book has many strengths, least of which is the broader view taken as described above. More importantly, Cobb explains well the particular Islamic concepts of warfare, political legitimacy, the social contract, and theology that are necessary to understand how Muslims perceived these events. (Incidentally, these same concepts operate in our time too, but there are few non-academics who understand them, so there is much to be learned about modern Islamic society and culture as well.) This context is vital to the story and well worth the time to grasp.

The centerpiece of any good history is the people. There are lots of actors in Cobb's story, which gives it richness and makes it interesting. The anecdotes and stories show that civilizational differences really aren't so profound as we often assume . . . there is much continuity between societies engaged in the fundamentally similar pursuits called "life."

Other useful bits: the maps are generally good; the note on Arabic names is very interesting as is the list of characters, which is also useful as a quick reference to maintain one's bearings in the narrative. The notes are remarkable for their completeness, accuracy and as a guide for future reading. I would have liked to see more in the bibliographic sketch, which is a good opportunity to see what an author thinks the state of the field is with regard to publications.

So, you'll pick up this book to learn about the crusades, and you'll be rewarded with a lot more. Highly recommended.
11 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Vladimir Slavik
4.0 out of 5 stars I would expect a more elaborate analysis at the end ...
Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2014
Verified Purchase
I would expect a more elaborate analysis at the end of the book. There were just few paragraphs trying to explain the differences between the middle age and the present islamic society.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Micaela Barrientos
5.0 out of 5 stars Notable perspectiva histórica
Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2021
Verified Purchase
Me encantó la perspectiva de la historia medieval y sus cruzadas ya no desde el mundo occidental sino tb del mundo arabe. Un proceso de aprendizaje respecto de errores que el mundo debe conocer para no reincidir , aunque parezca tarde. Muy buen libro.
Helpful
 Report
Bill McGlaughlin
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant! A highly informed and riveting accoun
Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2016
Verified Purchase
Brilliant! A highly informed and riveting account of events that took place in the Near East eight centuries ago that continue to shape our world. Paul Cobb is a unique creature — a New Englander, who studied at the University of Chicago and teaches at the University of Pennsylvania, who learned to read documents which few Western scholars of what we call 'the Crusades' that few western scholars have troubled to consult.
The results of all this research turned my understanding of the rift between the European world and the east around completely.
Cobb's book is deep, provocative, healing and a terrific pleasure to read!
4 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
JPS
4.0 out of 5 stars Seen from the other side?
Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2015
The alleged originality of this book is that it claims to look at the “Crusades” from the Islamic point of view by using medieval Islamic sources. This is largely, but perhaps not entirely true. Paul Cobb has, of course, used numerous Islamic sources, but he has used them alongside the others (Latin, Byzantine, and Armenian). He has also adopted the more modern view of the Crusades, that of a period much longer and more geographically diverse than the less than two centuries during which the Latins set up principalities in the Near East.

This in itself gives a lot of value to this book in several respects. It shows that the wars between Muslims and Christians and the “Reconquista” of territories lost by the latter started decades before the First Crusade. In particular, the Christians in Spain, with some help from those in France (and including some Normans) took Toledo some 14 years before the capture of Jerusalem, while Palermo, at one time one of the largest Muslim ports, fell to the Norman Hautevilles brothers some twenty seven years before. Interestingly, the author goes on well beyond AD 1291 and the fall of Acre.

Since he had chosen to adopt a Muslim point of view, he ends his book with a chapter on the Ottomans, with the fall of Constantinople soon to become Istanbul and the conquest of most of the Balkans, but also with the fall of Grenada and the end of the last Muslim state in Spain.
Another strongpoint is to show the impact and interactions of these events and the complex relationships between medieval Muslim states, between Christian states and between the two sets of states. Interestingly, even if not entirely originally, he clearly shows to what extent the success of the First Crusade was due to division among the Muslims themselves. He also shows that Saladin, the great hero of Islam (and for good reason) spent perhaps as much time subduing rival Moslem States than he spent actually fighting the Christians.

Another interesting, but much weaker, piece are the military, cultural and economic interactions and influences. It could have been interesting, for instance, to show to what extent these conflicts influenced military architecture and to what extent trade continued, despite the conflicts, especially between the Italian Republics and North Africa and Egypt. These interactions, however, are not entirely explored and only partly discussed. Another strongpoint, however, is the author’s clear descriptions and explanations of Islamic concepts related to Jihad, a Muslim’s duties, political legitimacy, Muslim Community, Muslim law and its sources and a number of other key notions that help to create Islamic civilisation up to our daws, and to understand how Muslims at the time might have perceived “Crusaders”.

In addition, the style is clear and rather engaging and the book is easy to read. Having praised this book, which is in fact the complement and opposite of one of John France’s books (“The Crusades and the Expansion of Catholic Christendom, 1000-1714”), I also had a few reservations.

A minor one is the existence of a couple of factual mistakes. For instance, and contrary to what the author claims, neither Kerak nor the Krak of Montreal fell to Saladin in 1182-83. They fell in 1188 and 1189, well after the disaster of Hattin (or the triumph of Hattin, from a Muslim perspective) after bitter sieges that last about a year in each case. However, Elyn, and more generally the control of the road from Egypt into Syria and Damascus along the shores of the Gulf of Aqaba, were lost in the 1170s to Saladin, allowing him to conquer his rivals in Syria and deprive the Crusader States of potential allies.

A slightly more serious point is that the author has little to say about the “other Christians”, starting with the Orthodox and the Byzantine Empire, and just about nothing about all the other Eastern Christians (Armenians, but also Maronites, Nestorians etc…). It would have been interesting to compare what Islamic sources had to say about them with how these sources (and the Eastern Christian sources) viewed the “Latins”. This, however, was slightly out of scope and not exactly the author’s purpose, although it would have shown that the “simple” opposition between “Latins” and “Muslims” in the East is a bit simplistic.

A final point is that, at times, I felt that the narrative was a bit too condensed or even rushed, presumably because of a page constraint imposed by the editor. To some extent, this is a bit of a pity, although it also means that I wanted more of it. Finally, there is a rather short annotated bibliography that the author terms a “sketch” but which contains many of the most recent titles on related topics. There are also, however, numerous endnotes that contain references with comments that are fit for anyone wanting to go further on some of the aspects that this book touches upon.
Four strong stars.
12 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Juan Pablo Nicholls
5.0 out of 5 stars VERY INTERESTING. ENLIGHTNING BOOK
Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2021
Verified Purchase
Very well researched book. Very interesting. Easy yo read. Explains the Crusades from the point of View of the arabs Compelling history. Very enligthning.
Helpful
 Report
Ben Coulson
3.0 out of 5 stars Missing Pages
Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2023
Verified Purchase
Great historical text, however the printing was off. In the copy I received, illustrations noted in the beginning of the text are missing from the text itself, which made for some very confusing moments in class.
Helpful
 Report
DMAC
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read!
Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2018
Verified Purchase
I had to read this for school thinking that I would hate it, I actually really enjoyed the book. It provides great insight on the Crusades and helps the reader to understand what they truly were and not the outline that European history normally gives.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

jameel
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 4, 2014
Verified Purchase
Loved it. Still going through. Good research/knowledge. Would recommend.
One person found this helpful
 Report
JPS
4.0 out of 5 stars Seen from the other side?
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 12, 2015
Verified Purchase
The alleged originality of this book is that it claims to look at the “Crusades” from the Islamic point of view by using medieval Islamic sources. This is largely, but perhaps not entirely true. Paul Cobb has, of course, used numerous Islamic sources, but he has used them alongside the others (Latin, Byzantine, and Armenian). He has also adopted the more modern view of the Crusades, that of a period much longer and more geographically diverse than the less than two centuries during which the Latins set up principalities in the Near East.

This in itself gives a lot of value to this book in several respects. It shows that the wars between Muslims and Christians and the “Reconquista” of territories lost by the latter started decades before the First Crusade. In particular, the Christians in Spain, with some help from those in France (and including some Normans) took Toledo some 14 years before the capture of Jerusalem, while Palermo, at one time one of the largest Muslim ports, fell to the Norman Hautevilles brothers some twenty seven years before. Interestingly, the author goes on well beyond AD 1291 and the fall of Acre.

Since he had chosen to adopt a Muslim point of view, he ends his book with a chapter on the Ottomans, with the fall of Constantinople soon to become Istanbul and the conquest of most of the Balkans, but also with the fall of Grenada and the end of the last Muslim state in Spain.
Another strongpoint is to show the impact and interactions of these events and the complex relationships between medieval Muslim states, between Christian states and between the two sets of states. Interestingly, even if not entirely originally, he clearly shows to what extent the success of the First Crusade was due to division among the Muslims themselves. He also shows that Saladin, the great hero of Islam (and for good reason) spent perhaps as much time subduing rival Moslem States than he spent actually fighting the Christians.

Another interesting, but much weaker, piece are the military, cultural and economic interactions and influences. It could have been interesting, for instance, to show to what extent these conflicts influenced military architecture and to what extent trade continued, despite the conflicts, especially between the Italian Republics and North Africa and Egypt. These interactions, however, are not entirely explored and only partly discussed. Another strongpoint, however, is the author’s clear descriptions and explanations of Islamic concepts related to Jihad, a Muslim’s duties, political legitimacy, Muslim Community, Muslim law and its sources and a number of other key notions that help to create Islamic civilisation up to our daws, and to understand how Muslims at the time might have perceived “Crusaders”.

In addition, the style is clear and rather engaging and the book is easy to read. Having praised this book, which is in fact the complement and opposite of one of John France’s books (“The Crusades and the Expansion of Catholic Christendom, 1000-1714”), I also had a few reservations.

A minor one is the existence of a couple of factual mistakes. For instance, and contrary to what the author claims, neither Kerak nor the Krak of Montreal fell to Saladin in 1182-83. They fell in 1188 and 1189, well after the disaster of Hattin (or the triumph of Hattin, from a Muslim perspective) after bitter sieges that last about a year in each case. However, Elyn, and more generally the control of the road from Egypt into Syria and Damascus along the shores of the Gulf of Aqaba, were lost in the 1170s to Saladin, allowing him to conquer his rivals in Syria and deprive the Crusader States of potential allies.

A slightly more serious point is that the author has little to say about the “other Christians”, starting with the Orthodox and the Byzantine Empire, and just about nothing about all the other Eastern Christians (Armenians, but also Maronites, Nestorians etc…). It would have been interesting to compare what Islamic sources had to say about them with how these sources (and the Eastern Christian sources) viewed the “Latins”. This, however, was slightly out of scope and not exactly the author’s purpose, although it would have shown that the “simple” opposition between “Latins” and “Muslims” in the East is a bit simplistic.

A final point is that, at times, I felt that the narrative was a bit too condensed or even rushed, presumably because of a page constraint imposed by the editor. To some extent, this is a bit of a pity, although it also means that I wanted more of it. Finally, there is a rather short annotated bibliography that the author terms a “sketch” but which contains many of the most recent titles on related topics. There are also, however, numerous endnotes that contain references with comments that are fit for anyone wanting to go further on some of the aspects that this book touches upon.
Four strong stars.
12 people found this helpful
 Report
A.Haseldine
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 5, 2015
Verified Purchase
interesting book
Report