A review of Martin Gilbert’s “Israel: Birth of a Nation” (History Channel)

“The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books.

After being forcibly exiled from their land, the people kept faith with it throughout their Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom. Impelled by this historic and traditional attachment, Jews strove in every successive generation to re-establish themselves in their ancient homeland.”

– “Israeli Declaration of Independence,” 14 May 1948

This film is actually about the Arab-Israeli War of 1948, not the creation of the state of Israel

The establishment of the modern state of Israel is one of the greatest events in world history. In 1948, the Jews returned to their ancient homeland. But the land was now inhabited by the Arabs instead. Moreover, the Arabs weren’t too crazy about the return of the Jews, and were willing to go to war with them to prevent Israel from being re-established. Thus, this documentary is actually about the Arab-Israeli War of 1948. It does not give the political background on how the modern state of Israel was created. It does not even give much political background about the war itself. Thus, it may be necessary for me to give some of the missing background here, and show a few of the things that this documentary omitted. Along the way, I will also give some praise for those things that I believe the documentary to have done well.

A review of “Medieval Science” (audiobook)

The medieval period is often seen as “backwards” today – and to some extent, this really is true. But this era also had some great science, as this audiobook attests. Much of it was in the Western world, but much of it was instead in the Islamic world. This is sometimes considered the “Islamic Golden Age,” with fantastic achievements in the arts and the sciences. For example, the Muslim invention of algebra is a product of this period. Obviously, algebra is more mathematics than science, but it is used extensively in science, and thus is relevant to their discussion at times. This audiobook is careful to avoid the kind of complex mathematics that would repel a general audience, but it judiciously mentions the role of math whenever it is relevant to their discussion.

A review of “Avicenna and Medieval Muslim Philosophy” (audiobook)

During the Middle Ages, the Muslim world helped to keep Greek philosophy alive. In the wake of the Roman Empire’s fall in the fifth century, the West was rapidly forgetting Greek learning. In particular, the works of Aristotle were temporarily lost in the West. But in the Middle East, they were kept alive in Arabic translation, long before the West would rediscover their original Greek during the Renaissance.

A review of “Islam” (audiobook)

“Allah—there is no god ˹worthy of worship˺ except Him. He has the Most Beautiful Names.”

– English translation of The Quran, Surah 20:8

Islam is the youngest of the world’s major religions. The others all began in antiquity, while Islam did not begin until the Early Middle Ages. But despite the head start of these other major religions, Islam has grown to be the second-largest religion in the world today. It is surpassed only by Christianity, and surpasses even those who consider themselves “non-religious” (such as atheists, agnostics, and self-described “secularists”). Thus, there is good reason to learn about what Muslims believe, from sources such as this audiobook. I do not know if the author himself was a Muslim, and note that he did not have a Muslim-culture name. (His name was Charles Adams.) Nonetheless, it is one of the best introductions to their faith that I have ever heard, and the author may well be a Muslim of a more Western background.

A review of “Modern Marvels: The Suez Canal” (History Channel)

Long before the Panama Canal was built, the Suez Canal was opened in 1869. This is the same year that America’s Transcontinental Railroad had been completed. But the Suez Canal was even more important for world history. It allowed ships to pass from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, without having to go around Africa. For a trip from Britain to India, a ship could thus save 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers) by going on this route. This may make the Suez Canal the most important canal in the world – arguably even more important than the Panama Canal, which is saying something.

Opening of the Suez Canal, 1869

A review of PBS’s “Lawrence of Arabia: The Battle for the Arab World”

The Arab Revolt against the rule of the Ottoman Turks …

When people hear the phrase “World War One,” they usually think of Europe. But it was also fought in the Middle East, by people like “Lawrence of Arabia.” During the war, the Arabs revolted against the rule of the Ottoman Turks. They had been ruled by the Ottoman Empire for centuries, and they didn’t like it. Thus, the British were able to convince them to revolt near the beginning of World War One. They sent a man named T. E. Lawrence to promise both British support and Arab independence. He is now known as “Lawrence of Arabia,” and he would later be famous for his role in the Arab Revolt. But he would also feel some guilt over how the revolt later turned out.

T. E. Lawrence, the man now known as “Lawrence of Arabia”

A review of “The Life of Muhammad”

“Muḥammad is the Messenger of Allah. And those with him are firm with the disbelievers and compassionate with one another.”

– English translation of The Quran, Surah 48:29

A biography of the founder of Islam, who lived in the Early Middle Ages …

Of the English-language films about the Prophet Muhammad, this one appears to be the longest. It is a journalistic examination of his life, and is good despite this journalistic style. It was made by the BBC, but distributed in America through PBS. If I am not mistaken, the film was directed by one British Muslim, written by another, and presented by still another – namely, Rageh Omaar. I am glad that this documentary was made by Muslims, because it allows one to hear an inside perspective on their faith. For this reason, one wishes that PBS’s film “The Mormons” had been made by a Latter-Day Saint filmmaker – or more precisely, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. “The Life of Muhammad” gives a three-hour overview of the life of Islam’s great prophet – which provides no pictures of Muhammad himself, in deference to the Muslim prohibitions on these pictures of the prophet. Nonetheless, this film succeeds in providing its viewer with a visually interesting biography despite this limitation.

Rageh Omaar, the presenter of this documentary

A review of “Islam: Empire of Faith” (PBS Empires)

“˹He is˺ Allah! There is no god ˹worthy of worship˺ except Him, the Lord of the Mighty Throne.”

– English translation of The Quran, Surah 27:26

A history of medieval Islam, and the empires that it influenced …

Islam seems always to be in the news these days. Ever since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, we have heard much about this religion (not all of it accurate). But this series came out before the terrorist attacks had ever happened – the year 2000, to be specific. This may actually be a virtue of the series, that it came out before then. It makes it easier to be objective about their history, and to not read contemporary interpretations into their history that might be best left out. We get neither a heroic nor a villainous version of Islam, but something in between. We hear well-deserved praise of their massive achievements, as well as some presentation of the controversies involved in their history.

A review of “The Dark Ages: An Age of Light” (BBC)

The Early Middle Ages are today remembered as the “Dark Ages.” The art historian Kenneth Clark made this argument in his landmark documentary series “Civilisation.” His first episode is entirely focused on this period, and he concludes that this period was essentially uncivilized. The History Channel documentary entitled “The Dark Ages” also makes the case for these being “Dark Ages.” For example, they point to the lack of literacy and education in the Early Middle Ages. But there have been others, such as Waldemar Januszczak, who have argued that it is a much-maligned age. They point to the fantastic art of this period, as evidence that it is more sophisticated than people thought. This is the case that Waldemar Januszczak makes in this film.

Which interpretation is correct? To a large degree, they both are. I don’t believe that we have to choose between them. The fall of the Western Roman Empire left utter chaos in its wake, and this chaos does indeed define parts of the Early Middle Ages. But it would be a mistake to throw out the baby with the bathwater, as they say. There were islands of civilization even in the Early Middle Ages. More to the point, Waldemar Januszczak seems to be correct that there was fantastic art in this period, which cast doubt upon the most extreme interpretations of the “Dark Ages.”

Waldemar Januszczak, the presenter of this series

A review of “Jerusalem: Center of the World” (PBS)

“Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.”

– The Hebrew Bible, “The Book of the Prophet Isaiah,” Chapter 52, Verse 1 (as translated by the King James Version of the Bible)

Three of the world's great religions have looked upon Jerusalem as a “holy city” …

Three of the world's great religions have looked upon Jerusalem as a “holy city.” Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all have an intimate historical connection with the city. These three religions may be the most prominent of what scholars today call the “Abrahamic religions.” The city has long been hot real estate (and still is today), and has been the site of more than a hundred battles scattered throughout its history.

The “Temple Mount” in Jerusalem, with the Dome of the Rock in the center

Jerusalem really is the “Center of the World” (or at least, the “Old World”) …

I live in the distant United States, the most powerful country in the “New World.” By contrast, Jerusalem lies in the “Old World” – a world which consists primarily of three continents; which are Europe, Africa, and Asia. The Middle East in general – and Jerusalem in particular – lie in the middle of that “Old World.” This may be part of why this documentary calls Jerusalem the “Center of the World,” as it does here. As with the Middle East in general, the central location of Jerusalem may be both a blessing and a curse to it. It is a blessing in some ways, because it was at the center of the world's trade routes, and has long been such. But it is also something of a curse, because its central location accounts (at least partially) for why it has long been such hot real estate. The Middle East in general – and Jerusalem in particular – continue to be something of a battleground today. But the importance of Jerusalem also has strong religious components, which are rooted in the unique history of this city.

In defense of Ronald Reagan: Helping the mujahideen in the Soviet-Afghan War

During the Reagan administration, we were allied with both Iraq and Afghanistan …

In the Ronald Reagan era, America had two allies that seem somewhat ironic today: Iraq and Afghanistan. In the twenty-first century, America would later go to war with both of these countries. Thus, some have perceived a contradiction between the earlier alliance and the later hostilities. But to me, it would seem that there is a common theme running through both of these policies, which is American national interest. I will attempt to explain this interest in this post, and show why Reagan's support for the mujahideen was both justified and worthwhile.

Three “mujahideen”  in Asmar – Afghanistan, 1985

A review of “The Crusades: Crescent and the Cross” (History Channel)

To say that the relationship between Islam and the West is sometimes troubled would be something of an understatement. Since the rise of Islam in the seventh century, Christians and Muslims have often made war on each other. As it turns out, their sometime antagonism has roots going back deep into the Middle Ages; and some conflict between them still persists today. The most controversial episode in this long history may still be the medieval Crusades, where the Roman Catholic Church sent its soldiers into the Holy Land, ostensibly to help the Byzantine Empire to protect itself from the “Muslim invaders.” Their assistance had ironically been requested by the Byzantine emperor Alexios, whose empire had another form of Christianity – namely, the Eastern Orthodox Church. But despite their common ground, the relationship between the Orthodox Byzantines and the Catholic Crusaders was somewhat troubled at best, and not just because of their differing versions of Christianity. The Catholic Crusaders were, of course, arriving there more for their own benefit than for that of the Byzantines. Nonetheless, the Byzantines could not afford to offend their Catholic Crusader allies; and so they were unfortunately caught in this crossfire during much of the First Crusade (and afterwards, for that matter).

What does this documentary cover, and what does it not cover?

But after they conclude their discussion of the First Crusade in this documentary, there is virtually no further mention of the Byzantine Empire. After this, the story focuses mainly on the Crusaders and the Muslims – which are both good subjects, but nonetheless somewhat incomplete here. To be sure, this documentary is divided into two parts, and the first part is dedicated to the First Crusade. The second part covers both the Second Crusade and the Third Crusade, but does not really go into any of the others. After the Third Crusade, they mention that there were some campaigns on and off for the next century. However, they do not mention how many there were, by the time these campaigns ended in 1291. In all, there were nine crusades; and this documentary does not cover the last six of them. There is thus a lot of missing territory that I would have liked to see covered here. Nonetheless, I will acknowledge that the first three crusades were the most important ones, and thus (perhaps) the most worthy of being told for a television audience. Given that I know of few other documentaries covering any part of the Crusades (besides their bonus episode about the Knights Templar), it would thus seem that this documentary doesn't have a lot of competition from any others in this regard. Thus, I won't complain too much about this. Whatever its flaws, this documentary would seem to be a good starting point; and the information therein is also quite good. Thus, my overall assessment of it has tended to be positive; and I also found it to be quite entertaining as well.

Battle of Hattin, 1187 - the turning point of the Crusades

A review of Rafael Lapesa's “Historia de la lengua española”

“We hope that this book, which knows how to say the important and say it well, contributes to spread linguistic knowledge that usually receives so little attention.”

– Ramón Menéndez Pidal, in the “Prólogo” (or “Foreword”) to this book, 1942 (translation mine)

The title translates in English to “History of the Spanish Language”

So I recently finished reading a book about the history of the Spanish language – written almost entirely in Spanish. I say “almost,” because there are a few exceptions to this, which I will note later in this post. (But I'm getting ahead of myself … )

General comments about the history of the language itself

The Spanish language has a long and rich history. It is a source of endless fascination to me, with written records stretching back into the time of the Roman Empire – and beyond. It's a story of political and social change – of religious and literary ideas, which have had a vast influence on Western history. It's a story of a language that would become one of the most spoken languages on Earth, with 460 million native speakers at the time that I write this (see source). This is more than 5% of the world's population, and more than any other language in the world except Mandarin Chinese. But it's also a story of human beings – of people who are always reinventing themselves (and their language) to change with the times, and filling their culture with new life and new energy every day.

First page of the Castilian epic poem “El Cantar de Mio Cid,” which is referenced often in this book

Forgotten battlegrounds of the Cold War: North Africa and the Middle East

If there's ever been a peaceful period in Muslim history, the Cold War was not that period …

If there's ever been a peaceful period in Muslim history, the Cold War was not that period. During this period, the Muslim world was something of a battleground, in which the Islamic countries were pawns in a great superpower chess game. The Muslim world encompasses many places – among them South Asia, which actually has more Muslims than North Africa and the Middle East combined. But they do not form a majority in this broader region of South Asia. By contrast, around 90% of North Africa and the Middle East are Muslims, and the same is actually true of Central Asia as well. Since I discuss Central Asia in another blog post about the Soviet war in Afghanistan, I will not do so here. And since I have discussed the South Asian part of the Cold War in another blog post, I will not do that here, either. Here, I will just discuss the traditional power centers of the Muslim world, which are North Africa and the Middle East. Many (but not all) of these conflicts would involve the new state of Israel as well.

An Egyptian artillery piece captured in the First Arab-Israeli War, 1948

A review of Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s “Africa's Great Civilizations” (PBS)

“The High Contracting Parties do by the present Charter establish an Organization to be known as the ORGANIZATION OF AFRICAN UNITY. The Organization shall include the Continental African States, Madagascar and other Islands surrounding Africa.”

– Charter of the “Organization of African Unity” (predecessor of the current African Union), 25 May 1963

Before watching this series, I knew next to nothing about the history of Africa – I admit it freely. The only part of this continent's history that I really knew much of anything about was Ancient Egypt, and then only in that period through the Roman conquests. This documentary did not neglect Ancient Egypt, as it turned out, but this was far from being its only focus. It tried to cover all of the written history of the entire continent, which is a truly ambitious scope for a documentary of any length. They did not cover everything, of course, nor could they have done so in the mere six episodes that they had here. But they were actually able to cover quite a bit in their limited running time, and I thus marvel that they were able to do so much.

A review of the BBC's “The Story of Maths” (by Marcus du Sautoy)

“Maths is the true language that the universe is written in – the key to understanding the world around us.”

– Marcus du Sautoy, in the conclusion of this series

In America, we often shorten the word “mathematics” to just “math.” In Britain, they retain the pluralization of “mathematics” to make it “maths,” even when shortening it in this way. Thus, no one from Britain would ever be likely to say just “math,” and would probably consider it an Americanism that would sound a little strange to them. But whatever you call it, I've been tutoring people in the subject since 2012, as a professional “math” tutor (and I am an American, as you may have guessed from my spelling of this word).