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  • The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise

  • Muslims, Christians, and Jews Under Islamic Rule in Medieval Spain
  • By: Dario Fernandez Morera
  • Narrated by: Bob Souer
  • Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (72 ratings)
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The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise

By: Dario Fernandez Morera
Narrated by: Bob Souer
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Summary

Scholars, journalists, and politicians uphold Muslim-ruled medieval Spain - "al-Andalus" - as a multicultural paradise, a place where Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived in harmony.

There is only one problem with this widely accepted account: It is a myth.

In this groundbreaking book, Northwestern University scholar Darío Fernández-Morera tells the full story of Islamic Spain. The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise shines light on hidden features of this medieval culture by drawing on an abundance of primary sources that scholars have ignored, as well as archaeological evidence only recently unearthed.

As professors, politicians, and pundits continue to celebrate Islamic Spain for its "multiculturalism" and "diversity", Fernández-Morera sets the record straight - showing that a politically useful myth is a myth nonetheless.

©2016 Darío Fernández-Morera (P)2016 Tantor
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

What listeners say about The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise

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A most bias account of Islamic rule of the Andalus

This a most biased book and account and an endless diatribe of rabid islamophobia. A discredit to Audible balanced historical reviews and books...A one sided viewpoint, related to selected ‘historical’ facts, written by an author with a big ace to grind against Islam...

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11 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars

A harrowing account of Islamic Spain

Andalus is often cited as an example of Islamic tolerance and enlightenment. The politically correct academics who make such statements tend to overlook Berber dynasties, if they are aware of these groups at all. This book provides a reconsideration of the earlier, relatively milder period as well. The possibility of being branded a racist for presenting inconvenient facts about a religion, or of loss of funding for Middle Eastern Studies departments (much of which comes from repressive Middle Eastern regimes), have often prevented a truly honest and balanced look at Islamic Spain.

Each chapter provides a thematic examination of a different subject, from Jihad to women's rights and the treatment of religious minorities. The parade of horrors is not for the faint of heart. We hear of the widespread use of infidel women as sex slaves, some girls as young as 11 years. Based on strong primary source evidence, the author argues that there is at least the strong possibility that female genital mutilation was practiced among the Muslims of Spain. Religious minorities were humiliated and taxed at higher rates, but at least they were allowed to exist initially.

Because the book argues against conventional wisdom, it can't make claims like "Islamic Spain was a beacon of tolerance" without backing them up. So for each claim, a lot of evidence and different examples are cited. This may be tiresome for some people. While an honest look at the evidence in this book would lead to most of the author's claims being accepted, it is most likely that the politically correct establishment will simply ignore it, because it goes against their narrative.

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10 people found this helpful

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This is propaganda

Written to debunk something rather than informative. This becomes clear from the get go. How do I get a a refund?

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9 people found this helpful

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An important book with relevance for now

Referencing a vast collection of Muslim, Christian and Jewish sources past and present the author clarifies Islam as an ideology of conquest whose ultimate expression in armed Jihad and goal quite literally world domination expressed explicitly in the Quran and numerous Hadith. Contrary to fashionable whimsical contemporary academic analysis the Muslim conquest of Spain.and its subsequent rule was brutal and uncompromising designed foremost to uphold the supremacy of Arab Muslims over its conquered subjects, prevent them "contaminating" Islam and extort from them protection money in the form of special taxes - all practices mandated by the Quran and upheld by Islam to this day.

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8 people found this helpful

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An inconvenient truth

Full of information and enjoyable narrative. A must for those who have hunger for truth over fairy tales.

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8 people found this helpful

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Disgusting

the ultimate example of racism and anti-Semitism.
the author should be questioned about what he wrote in this awful book

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7 people found this helpful

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Racist, this is far from truth very bias

This book summarises how much the west hates muslims and islam, full of nonsense and trying to hide the truth.

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6 people found this helpful

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Extremely informative


Excellent book

You cannot help but feeling that all the price lavished upon tolerant “Al-Andaluz” is ideologically motivated and something doesn’t seem right. Fernandez Morera’s book proves this point very clearly. It not only provides common sense arguments such as “If Gothic Spain ‘deserved’ to be conquered by a more modern and enlightened people, with didn’t Meso-America or India deserved to be conquered too?” or “If Christians had to be happy with their second class citizenship why blacks in Southern US didn’t have to be happy too?”; The book also provides actual evidence from primary sources showing that “Al-Andaluz” wasn’t either tolerant o enlightened.

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6 people found this helpful

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Boring boring boring

A scholarly work, tedious in the execution and read very badly. Makes use of 20 examples when a couple would do. Rigorous scholarship. Yawn

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5 people found this helpful

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Brilliant

Brilliant, engaging, and meticulously researched, this book ought to be required reading in high schools and for any adult who wishes to be more knowledgeable about the true Islamic impact on Spain.

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4 people found this helpful