Rating: 
Summary: A dull read
Review: Before buying this book I decided to go to the library and flip through it. Although I am interested in the subject I found the book terrible. I would call this book a historical novel(75% novel, 25% historic). The book begins with the words, "Once upon a time..." which made my stomach uneasy. I only read the first two chapters completely, chap. 1 Beginnings, chap. 2 a Brief History of a First-Rate Place; after those two I skimmed through the book. I was greatly disappointed because the book seems to speak alot about foreigners and foreign places. I didn't learn anything about Islamic Spain.
The book left out population figures for towns, cities, regions; not once did it attempt to figure out the population figure for any places during 711 and 1492. I have no idea what life was like for the average Jew, Muslim, or Christian anywhere during any of the period between 711 and 1492. The book focuses completely on intellectuals, and, even then it chooses to focus on certain individuals. There wasn't any discussion whatsoever on economy, political life, government structure, the military structure, or social life. I was disappointed because I wished to learn about life in Medieval Iberia as a commoner or even a person in the nobility and I didn't receive much.
My advice: do not buy this book. Instead go to your local library, or used bookstore or Borders/Barnes and Noble(whenever I go to those places I always seem to find this book on the shelf) sit down and flip through this book and see if you like it. I wouldn't suggest you buy this book without reading it.
Rating:
Summary: Flat
Review: For a period of time the city of Cordoba in Spain was one of the most enlightened cities in the world. The author's format is to tell the story of the rise and fall of Cordoba with vignette like short chapters, mini stories about people that reveal insight into the life cycle of that wonderful city. The first 50 pages are the best work here, before the short chapters start appearing. The first couple of the vignette chapters are so redundant to the first 50 pages you want to stop reading the book at that point. The vignettes in the book seem to spend too much trying to make unimportant points, or don't make the points well. The book becomes hard to read, you have to push yourself to get though it. What should have been interesting satisfying material comes off as clouded or uninteresting. Bottom line, not well written.
Rating: 
Summary: Innacuracies
Review: I found it disturbing that this book contained several historical innacuracies. In my opinion, if Ms. Menocal could not accurately document simple historical events or she is ignorant of the facts, she does a great disservice to the contents of this book. She does a greater disservice to those readers who have a new found interest in Spanish medieval history. Ms. Menocal makes reference to several authors who are experts in Spanish medieval history such as Bernard F. Reilly and Richard Fletcher. Ms. Menocal makes references to these authors, however, it seems that she must not have read their books. A blaring example of an historical innacuracy is located on page 98, when Ms.Menocal states that the town of Medinaceli is "famous and is remembered today as the hometown of the half-legendary warrior called the Cid". Any person with the most rudimentary knowledge of Spanish medieval history knows that the Cid was born in Vivar, located in the province of Burgos, as has been thoroughly researched and established by Spanish historians Gonzalo Martinez Diez, Ramon Menendez Pidal and the aforementioned authors. As a matter of fact, the Poema de Mio Cid, written in the early XIII century, refers to the Cid as Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar a countless number of times. DUH! I am amazed how she could have put that in her book. I challenge any reader of this book, should they ever take a trip to Spain, to boldly state to any Spaniard that the Cid's hometown is Medinaceli. You will be summarily laughed at. An additional innacuracy within the book was located on page 145. Ms. Menocal states that king Alfonso VI had two children from his Moorish concubine Zaida. While it is true she did bear him his only son, Sancho, Zaida did not bear him a daughter Teresa, future queen of Portugal and mother of the first king of Portugal, Afonso Enriquez. Teresa was the offspring of the union of Alfonso VI with another concubine, Jimena Munoz, daughter of the magnate of Bierzo. The rock solid foundation to any good book on history is the accurate documentation of historical facts. If this is lacking, it is in indication that the author, for whatever reason, did a poor job of researching the accurate history of the time period in question. What if anything does it say about the contents of the rest of the book? If a building is built on a shaky foundation the rest of the building is in danger of collapse. In my opinion, if an author cannot accurately document historical facts, is ignorant of the facts or is attempting to revise history, this can only damage the contents of a book no matter how noble the purpose of the author in addressing a subject matter. Unfortunately, Ms. Menocal is guilty of at least poor research, which despite her noble purpose in addressing a very important aspect of Spanish medieval history damages the subject matter in her book. You are left wondering what other historical events did she get wrong in her book. In conclusion, I am left questioning an author's motivation/purpose in writing a historically innacurate book.
Rating: 
Summary: Timely and Revelatory
Review: I found The Ornament of the World to be both revelatory and timely reading with many cautionary analogies to our own time.
It gives an overview of civilization on the Iberian peninsula in the 8th-15th century with primary emphasis on the cultural achievements of its Muslim, Jewish, and Christian inhabitants. Maria Rosa Menocal describes the rise, decline and disappearance of a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural society where competing religious beliefs seemed to nurture rather than inhibit learning and the arts. Harold Bloom, certainly no avatar of modern multi-culturalism, wrote the introduction. Menocal's tone is elgaic in describing the early (8th-10th century) period of Muslim control when al-Andalus and its capital, Cordoba, flourished. One is reminded of Camelot's "one brief shining moment". It even had its Arthur in Abd al Rahman, a half-Berber grandson of the last Umayyad Caliph of Damascus, who made a five-year trek across North Africa to Iberia after the Abbasids massacred the rest of his clan. Over the next thirty years he:
1. United the peninsula into a state that endured for 200 years and in which Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived side by side in "a complex culture of tolerance".
2. Improved agriculture by introducing new crops and irrigation from the middle east.
3. Built architectural masterpieces like the great mosque of Cordoba.
4. Fought Charlemagne to a standstill.
5. Wrote wistful poetry about his former homeland. Under Abd al-Rahman and his descendants al-Andalus achieved great material and intellectual wealth. The 10th century Caliph's library at Cordoba may had had as many as 400,000 volumes at a time when no library in the rest of Europe had more than 500. It included troves of pre-Muslim Arabic poetry and Arabic translations of Greek literature, philosophy and science unknown in Christian Europe. The Umayyads were overthrown by an army of north African Berbers who sacked Cordoba, but in time adapted to the unique culture of al-Andalus. In the 11th-12th centuries, city states (taifas) ruled by Muslims in the south and by Christians in the north replaced the centralized government of the Umayyads. Elements of the "complex culture" persisted. Granada's Muslim ruler chose a Jewish poet to command his army as Vizier. Rodrigo Diaz, the El Cid of the troubadours, fought for the Muslim king of Seville as well as for the Christian kigs of Castile. Toledo became the most important center for translating the riches of the Arabic libraries into Latin and the venacular for the rest of Europe. Menocal says that the last shards of Andalusian religious tolerance were lost in the clash of increasingly rigid Muslim and Christian zealotry. Its origins were extrinsic to the culture that had evolved on the Iberian peninsula. The Almohads, Islamic fundamentalists arrived from North Africa and the Inquisition came over the Pyrenees from Rome. The criticism of other Amazon reviewers strikes me as small-minded. Ornament of the World was not written for specialists in Medieval Spanish history, but, like the books of Stephen Ambrose, for general readers of history. Ms Menocal breaks new ground in tracing threads of intellectual influence from pre-Muslim Arabia, Palestine and Greece that passed through medieval Spain and into the works of writers like Chaucer, Dante, Bocaccio, Bacon, Halevi, Abelard and Cervantes. She is occasionally repetitious, I think, out of a desire to emphasize her points. Other reviewers accuse Menocal of understating the degree of repression and discrimination in the Muslim era. My question for them is: where else in crusader Europe did minority religions fare better? And, for that matter, are the 21st century societies in Northern Ireland, Saudi Arabia, Israel or Kashmir any more tolerant than that of al-Andalus?
Rating: 
Summary: Optimistic History
Review: I have been fortunate enough to travel to Spain three times now. Two of my trips have taken me through the southern parts of the country--Andalusia (al-Andalus) and its environs--that make up the setting for much of this story. It is a beautiful part of the world and Menocal has provided us with a wonderful history of the area during the time of its greatest glory: the Middle Ages. From 711 until 1492, the Iberian Peninsula was the home of three different cultures--Jewish, Christian and Muslim--that were often able to co-exist in relative peace. While doing so, they were each able to contribute to a cosmopolitan and melded culture that for a long stretch was the most advanced culture in Western civilization, producing things that remain unique to this day. This "culture of tolerance" as Menocal calls it was perhaps not as tolerant as she likes to make out and, of course, it ultimately implodes as Christians and Muslims fight for possession of the country. Still, much of the literature, science and philosophy produced of that time remains influential and many of the beautiful places remain to be see by visitors to the area. Anyone traveling to the country would be amiss if he or she did not take a look at this book and get a feel for the achievement of medieval Spain. Understand that this book is a completely optimistic account of the period and ignores most of the tragedies of the time. Still, in our time of insecurity, it is nice to read something positive. It is beautiful to see what can be achieved when three powerful cultures work together instead of try to destroy each other.
Rating:
Summary: Good Subject, Bad Writing
Review: I lived in Andalucia for 3 years, finding the Moorish history and influence very interesting. Thus, I hoped to add to my meager knowledge of the period. Professor Menocal, while a good historian, is a terrible writer. Her sentence and paragraph structure at best is confusing. She should have asked for editorial review from an English Comp teaching fellow. I finished the book, partly because of my fascination with Iberia and this phase of its history. It also helped that I was on long intercontinental flights with no other reading material.
Rating:
Summary: A scholarly yet readable account of Iberian history
Review: I read this book while traveling through Spain and Portugal for six weeks and was deeply moved by the sensitive tone which the author keeps throughout the text and the accuracy of her descriptions. This is a book which provides a balanced and apolitical account of history. She embraces the common humanity of all three ethnic groups that created a remarkable mosaic of cultural influences -- the vestiges of which are still found in Spain. Contemporary Middle Eastern politicians have much to learn from this book. Academics also should strive to capture the essence of creative historiagraphy in the same way that Maria Rosa Menocal has achieved here.
Rating:
Summary: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Review: If you have trouble with Insomnia, this is a good remedy. Boring, boring and boring. If you must read this, stop after the flyleaf. Most of it is repetitive and uninteresting.
Rating:
Summary: A Revelation
Review: Many of the reviewers seem not to be familiar with the history of Christian intolerance -- to which the author of this book contrasts the comparative tolerance of medieval Spain. Even before Constantine, Christian bishops were setting their mobs on other Christians who did not agree with them. After they achieved political power with Constantine, Christians set themselves to destroy all they could of pagan culture, including the works of the classical authors such as Aristotle and Plato. For 500 years, Christians made murder an instrument of policy to force people to accept baptism. In the 11th century, the popes called for the Crusades, causing more bloodbaths, not only of Jews and Muslims, but also Christians. In the 14th century, the storm troops of the Inquisition caused the deaths of thousands and ruined European commerce. The bloody battles between Protestant and Catholics took no quarter and devastated Europe, killing half the population. The Spaniards invading South American in a hundred years killed 150 million natives and expropriated their lands. The Catholic Church's support of slavery and execution of heretics lasted right up to the 20th Century. These atrocities were not incidental. They were approved by the highest authorities of the Church, including Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, and almost every pope who had the power. Muhammad instructed Muslims in the Quran to not only respect but also to protect the "Peoples of the Book," Christians and Jews who shared an ancestor in Abraham and believed in the same God. For the most part, Muslims carried out this command. Muhammad also prescribed rules of war, often causing Muslims to be shocked with the barbarities and atrocities of Christian armies. Enlightened Muslims who arrived in Spain in the 8th century took this tolerance as far as it could go. Unlike the Christians, they had embraced their pagan roots and were open to science, philosophy, and the learning of the Greeks and Romans--cultures that Christians had done everything to destroy. What had been the province of half-Christianized Visigoths and Jews living in abysmal slavery not only became a center of learning but the scene of a bold political experiment. Predating Adams, Jefferson, and Madison by a thousand years, they developed a secular space for science, philosophy, and politics in which Christians, Jews, and Muslims worked shoulder to shoulder. The Jews especially thrived in this atmosphere of toleration. Several of them became renowned scholars and ministers high in the Muslim government. The Jews today look back on that experiment in Spain and call it their Golden Time. They consider their expulsion by their Catholic Majesties Isabel and Ferdinand in 1492 as a catastrophe equalled only by the destruction of the Temple in the Jewish Wars. The "Ornament of the World" is mainly an intellectual history. Menocal is interested in showing how the dour world of Visigoth Christianity was no match for the wide and expansive world of Islam. In a couple hundred years, the Muslims transformed Spain from a backwater province to the center of the civilized world, dazzling visitors with architecture, science, and learning. Menocal tells us about those scholars in Medieval Spain who worked to restore to Latin Europe not only the corpus of Aristotle and a thousand years of commentaries but also a framework for reconciling the demands of faith and reason. It was a breathtaking achievement. I found this a breathtaking book.
Rating:
Summary: Relevant History for Our Time
Review: Maria Rosa Menocal presents what today would be a 'radical' idea: people of different religions coexisting and even tolerating their differences while creating a vibrant and dynamic society. Yet, in medieval Spain ('al-Andalus' as the exiled Umayyad dynasty coined it) this kind of society was created and managed to exist for almost 600 years. The book is part narrative, part analysis of what made al-Andalus the creative center that transmitted both Arab and ancient Greek culture throughout the Western European world. The originator was Abd al-Rahman, the last of the Umayyad Muslims from Syria, whose family had been wiped out by political and religious rivals. As a young man, he is exiled to the Iberian peninsula, and begins to transform it into the 'real' caliphate, filled with new ideas; perhaps accidentally, he also creates a society where Jews and Christians can rise to high posts in the caliphate and transform their own cultures. Menocal provides portraits of individuals of all backgrounds who build a sometimes 'ideal' society; she also narrates those who, like Petrus Alfonsi (a convert from Judaism to Christianity), take these ideas to the rest of Europe (Petrus became famous and revered in England for what was 'common' knowledge in al-Andalus, which illustrates how ignorant much of Europe was -- Petrus was only 'average' in his homeland). The book ends with a bitter -- and, in the context of the book, surprising -- betrayal of tolerance by Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain in 1492: despite dressing like 'Arabs' at their ascension to a 'reconquered' Christian Spain, within three months, they banned (and pressured conversion) to the Jews (some of whom worked with these monarchs in positions of authority), and pressure Muslims to convert or leave. Although remnants of the 'golden' age of al-Andalus survive in buildings like the Alhambra palace, the Inquisition wipes out much of what flourished during the supposedly 'dark' age of Europe. One of the most insightful books I've read in months.
|
