"God's Crucible — Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215" (W.W. Norton, 475 pages, $29.95), by David Levering Lewis (AP) Though it all happened 1,300 years ago well — some of it less than 600 years ...

The historian Simon Sebag Montefiore, in a natty straw boater and bright blue shirt as is his wont, was our guide. He has a deep personal interest in the period, not least as a member of a prominent ...

After the fall of Granada in 1492, Muslims were forcibly 'converted' to Catholicism by the Inquisition. The discrimination did not stop there - and nor did their legacy The last Muslim king in Spain, ...

Pt. 1: The Virgin and the bull. Sun and shadow ; The conquest of Spain ; The reconquest of Spain ; 1492 : the crucial year -- Pt. 2: The conflict of the gods. The rise and fall of the Indian world ; ...