The Assassins: A Radical Sect in Islam - Brossura

Lewis, Bernard

Brossura

ISBN 10: 184212451X ISBN 13: 9781842124512

Casa editrice: Weidenfeld & Nicolson History, 2003

Riassunto

The word 'Assassin' was brought back from Syria by the Crusaders, and in time acquired the meaning of murderer. Originally it was applied to the members of a Muslim religious sect ' a branch of the Ismailis, and the followers of a leader known as the Old Man of the Mountain. Their beliefs and their methods made them a by-word for both fanaticism and terrorism in Syria and Persia in the 11th and 12th centuries, and the subject of a luxuriant growth of myth and legend. In this book, Bernard Lewis begins by tracing the development of these legends in medieval and modern Europe and the gradual percolation of accurate knowledge concerning the Ismailis. He then examines the origins and activities of the sect, on the basis of contemporary Persian and Arabic sources, and against the background of Middle Eastern and Islamic history. In a final chapter he discusses some of the political, social and economic implications of the Ismailis, and examines the significance of the Assassins in the history of revolutionary and terrorist movements.

Su questo libro

Informazioni sull?autore

Bernard Lewis is Emeritus Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. Formerly Professor of Middle Eastern History at the School of Oriental & African Studies, London, 1949-74.

Dalla quarta di copertina

'Assassin' is now a common noun in most European languages, but it first came to the West from Arabic around the time of the Crusades, when it was the name given to a secretive Islamic sect feared by the Crusaders and the Muslim establishment alike. Here Bernard Lewis traces the origins of the Assassin sect in the Shi'ite branch of Islam and chronicles both their doctrines and the life of their enigmatic founder, the legendary 'Old Man of the Mountain'. The Assassins were the first group to make planned, systematic, and long-term use of murder as a political weapon, and their ideals and methods have since found many imitators. The Assassins is the most comprehensive, readable, and authoritative account of history's first terrorists.

'Learned, lucid and elegant¿with great skill [Lewis] disentangles truth from legend' Economist

'Professor Lewis has succeeded with his usual carefulness, probity and skill' Times Literary Supplement



PHOENIX PRESS
NON-FICTION/HISTORY
UK £6.99


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isbn: 184212 451X

Dettagli dell?edizione

• Editore: Weidenfeld & Nicolson History
• Data di pubblicazione: 2003
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 184212451X
• ISBN 13: 9781842124512
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 176
• Contatto del produttore: non disponibile
• Persona responsabile: non disponibile