Joe

Good narrative, but a couple factual errors nearly knocked it down to a three.

A decent introduction to an entirely new area of study for me.

The book certainly felt like an unbalanced polemic more often than not, and many of the arguments were not really connected to the stated thesis of the book. I gave this book a three because its discussions on the practice of Islamic schools of jurisprudence in Umayyad Spain was interesting, and some of the controversial claims and arguments in the book sparked thinking on my part as to what it means exactly to be a tolerant society. Is a tolerant society the same as an equal society? By definition, the answer is no, not necessarily. To call Islamic Spain tolerant is to do so only by historical context and should not be conflated with being a just or equal society. By today's standards, Andalucía would not reach the standards for religious freedom met by all but the harshest regimes at the present time. With these qualifications in mind however, it is still possible to recognize the special achievements of Islam in Spain in the areas where other religions and cultures coexisted, influenced one another, and left behind intellectual and cultural achievements that continue to impress today.