A collection of essays that offers a narrative of the intellectual, commercial, spiritual, philosophical, scientific, and aesthetic real-world creative engagement among Jews, Muslims, and some Christians in daily life in Spain and around the Mediterranean.

This collection of essays by seven highly respected 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.

"In Prelude to Israel's Past, Lemche examines the nature and function of Old Testament historical narrative. Is the biblical narrative a reliable source of historical knowledge? Or does it have a literary and theological life of its own - proclaiming a truth that cannot be contested because it recounts "events" that happened once upon a time? Lemche explores these questions from two directions. First, he analyzes the biblical narratives from Abraham to Moses and demonstrates that these narratives are literature, not documents written by professional historians. Second, he compares the biblical portrait of the patriarchs with what we know about this period from other ancient sources. He urges that the Bible continues to guide and console a believing people not because it is a historically accurate record of past events but because its living stories recount a truth unfettered by time and culture."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

How do we interpret the recent changes in world politics and what is the future likely to hold? The contributors to this volume share an assumption that history repeats itself. The book places the events of the past few years in broad historical context, examining how the political, military and economic arrangements of the past are reflected in current events. By tracing historical patterns in Western Europe, Russia, East Asia, Latin America and the United States, the contributors aim to provide a new perspective on the pressing questions and conflicts that characterize international politics now and in the years to come.

Originally published in 1946, this volume contains the complete text of the Tabulae anatomicae sex (1538) by Vesalius, together with a detailed analysis of its significance by Charles Singer and C. Rabin. This analysis provides a wealth of information on Vesalius and contextualizes his achievements in terms of the contemporary context, numerous illustrations from other anatomical documents are also included. The reader is thus given an insight into the importance of the Tabulae, both for the development of anatomy and the creation of a modern scientific method. This is a well-presented edition of an important text that will be of value to anyone with an interest in anatomy, the Renaissance, or the history of science.

“A fine study . . . by a prolific scholar who adeptly restores the Salem Gunpowder Raid to its rightful place in the history of the American Revolution.” —New England Quarterly On April 19, 1775, British raids on Lexington Green and Concord Bridge made history, but it was an episode nearly two months earlier in Salem, Massachusetts, that set the stage for the hostilities. Peter Charles Hoffer has discovered records and newspaper accounts of a British gunpowder raid on Salem. Seeking powder and cannon hidden in the town, a regiment of British Regulars were foiled by quick-witted patriots who carried off the ordnance and then openly taunted the Regulars. The prudence of British commanding officer Alexander Leslie and the persistence of the patriot leaders turned a standoff into a bloodless triumph for the colonists. What might have been a violent confrontation turned into a local victory, and the patriots gloated as news spread of “Leslie’s Retreat.” When British troops marched on Lexington and Concord on that pivotal day in April, Hoffer explains, each side had drawn diametrically opposed lessons from the Salem raid. It emboldened the rebels to stand fast and infuriated the British, who vowed never again to back down. After relating these battles in vivid detail, Hoffer provides a teachable problem in historic memory by asking why we celebrate Lexington and Concord but not Salem and why New Englanders recalled the events at Salem but then forgot their significance. “A well-told story that deserves to be read . . . [Hoffer] reveals something of the practice of the historian’s craft, even as he resurrects a dimly-remembered event.” —History