History As Prelude

This collection of essays by seven 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.

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.