"'The Crusades Through Arab Eyes" by Amin Maalouf.

BOOK REPORT / REVIEW: The Crusades Through Arab Eyes; by Amin Maalouf. The Crusades Through Arab Eyes, by Amin Maalouf, presents Western readers and students of history with a view of the Crusades that is seldom considered in the West. Eurocentrism is a powerful influence, one that has largely shaped the writing of history that has been accepted (at least tacitly) by much of the world's community of scholars. In this text, however, we are presented …

…which is (as the author demonstrated) as distorted as the perception of Islamic beliefs which much of the West continues to hold true. The book is important in that it offers a mirror image of events that even the most cursory student of history is generally familiar with. Teachers and students alike should take notice of this book, which has taken some 30 years to move into an inexpensive paperback format after being printed in English.