Slouching Toward Jerusalem

By Pamela | July 12, 2011 |

  I’ve been fascinated by the Crusades for several years now.  Not surprising, I suppose, given my basic interest in the times and places where two cultures touch (or in the case of the Crusades, whack at) each other and change.   I’ve read accounts of what the Crusades looked like from the Muslim perspective. (Barbarian…

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History on Display: The Horse

By Pamela | June 23, 2011 |

Now and then you stumble across history when you least expect it. Yesterday my friend Nancy and I visited Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History.   Sometimes you visit a museum because there’s an exhibit you want to see.  Other times you visit a museum because you want to hang out, talk, laugh a little . …

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If You Only Read One Book on Islamic History…

By Pamela | June 2, 2011 |

I’ve been studying Islamic history for a long time now.  (Stops to count on her fingers. Thirty years??  Really??  Counts again. Dang. ) Last year I discovered the best general book on Islamic history I’ve ever read:  Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes by Tanim Ansary.  I underlined as I read. …

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