The Caliph's Splendor
Islam and the West in the Golden Age of Baghdad
by Benson Bobrick
Mem. Ed. $19.99
Pub. Ed. $28.00
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The Caliph's Splendor
The celebrated caliph from The Thousand and One Nights, Harun al-Rashid ruled the Islamic world when its power was at a peak in the late eighth and early ninth centuries, and when the Arab world exercised a profound influence over Western Christian culture.
During Harun’s caliphate, Islam dominated much of the known world, from the Atlantic Ocean to China. His capital was Baghdad, the most cosmopolitan metropolis of the era. In this magnificent work of history, acclaimed scholar Benson Bobrick resurrects Harun’s glorious world and the complex, pervasive influence it had on its neighbors in the Byzantine Empire and the Frankish kingdom of Harun’s contemporary, Charlemagne.
For all its reach, Harun’s power was checked by the Byzantine Empire, with its capital at Constantinople, and Charlemagne’s European kingdom. Yet along with conflict went signigficant cultural exchange. In fact, it was the preservation and development of classical learning by the Muslims that lighted the lamp of knowledge in the West during the so-called Dark Ages when Europe fell into ruin.
The Caliph’s Splendor brings this history to vivid life with wide-reaching implications for today’s interconnected world.
Hardcover Book : 288 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Inc. ( August 14, 2012 )
Item #: 13-543138
ISBN: 9781416567622
Product Dimensions: 6.25 x 9.25 inches
Product Weight: 18.0 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Decent 
November 02, 2012
Good book, neither overly exciting or dull. Details life in early Baghdad, Muslim Spain and Islam's interactions with Charlemagne and the Byzantines.
Reviewer: Raymonds
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