Stepping back in time, way back.

After reading Karen Armstrong's book A Short History of Islam and seeing her in some videos, I realized she is someone to pay attention to. Probably picked up from her then that the Crusades were in a way a defining period for the present religious wars. So, I'm now reading her book, Holy War: The Crusades and their impact on today's world.

I was a little surprised and concerned by the lopsidedness of the House vote on HR 4681, (you can look it up if you want to), that the response was rather one-dimensional. And as Armstrong points out, she may have had the same one-dimensional outlook and biases, or did have them until she started researching about the Crusades for a series of documentaries. Out of that experience she wrote this book in 1988. She sensed then and continues to see parallels between the Crusades and current hostilities and has added a Preface written after 9-11-2001.

She also mentions two follow-up books,
Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths and
The Battle for God.