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Religious Book Store > Religious books beginning with C
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The Crescent Obscured: The United States and the Muslim World, 1776-1815 |
Author: Robert Allison
Published: 2000-07-15 |
List price: $20.00
Our price: $20.00
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As of: January 05th, 2009 09:50:19 PM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 The crescent in context
I'll begin with outright shock at the review before mine, which characterizes this book as in the tone of academic elitism.
On the contrary, having suffered through volumes of history written for scholars, this book was refreshingly written for a reader of non-fiction generally. While enjoying a background in history that is rather extensive, my grasp of the Barbary Wars can only be explained as limited, and Allison's history served as an excellent buffer of not only the conflicts in Africa, but their social and literary impacts in the United States at the time and their impact in shaping the Islamo-American relations of centuries to come.
While this book does not represent Professor Allison's most widely accessible work, it is clearly an early symbol of his academic abilities, which has been echoed and extrapolated since.
 The Crescent Clarified
This book could be the quintessential book on U.S. & the Barbary coasts relationships from 1776-1815 the illustrations are really magnificent especially the 17th century portrait of a Moorish king which actually looks like a so called "North American Indian chief in full regalia". The caption also explains how Europeans always thought the Desert dwellers and North American "Indians" were parallel in likeness (because they were and are the same). This book read carefully can bring the reader into understanding the ancient Moors were indigenous to this land (North America); this story is untold in his-story books.
A brilliant work of history
Robert Allison is a historian the world should take note of! The Crescent Obscured unleashes a vein of American history that few American's know about. Put down the trash by David McCullough, and pick up this, or any other book by Robert Allison and you'll be better for it in the end!
 The story obscured
I honestly can't believe that the other two glowing reviews are for this book. They would more likely describe Jefferson's War which I recently read and enjoyed a good deal.
This book seems to be written by an academic elite who doesn't clearly describe the events of the time in overview. Instead he gives a cloudy and partial image of what was going on through a bunch of obscure, minor, news clippings and plays from the time. Worse, it's chopped up into several dis-joint chapters, each of which read like an essay by his grad students who are tyring too hard for an A, making up for a lack of research with a plethora of rambling analysis. If I hadn't read Jefferson's War which chronologically goes through the events I would have been completely lost reading this book.
If you want to learn the history of this time, with romance, action, adventure, exotic lands, swashbuckling, amazing and interesting facts thrown in, etc. read Jefferson's War. If you want to listen to an academic make convoluted pointless arguments -all the while passing modern judgement on the views and values of the time- then this is your book. The irony is that the author was audacious enough to put the word obscured in the title of his own book . . .
The Crescent Obscured
The Crescent Obscured reads like a historical novel. Robert Allison packs the book with romance, adventure, and action. Among his heroes are Steven Decatur and James Riley, and others of this fascinating period of United States history. Allison writes with a wry sense of humor, bringing history alive. The Barbary pirates, the stuff of legends and fairy tales, were real. Allison demystifies the origin of the words to the Marine song: "to the shores of Tripoli." Author Robert Allison's accounts are so vivid, you can almost imagine a movie script in progress. The last chapter of The Crescent Obscured is another extraordinary story, that of James Riley, captain of the Commerce, and his crew. Shipwrecked in the Mediterranean near the Spanish Sahara, James Riley endured two years of captivity, remaining all the while concerned about his crew and trusting Providence for their deliverance. Riley wrote a book about his experiences, called Travels and Sufferings: An Authentic Narrative of the Loss of the American Brig Commerce, Wrecked on the Western Coast of Africa in the Month of August 1815. Not only did Riley recite the events of the captivity in his book, but also made references to the state of slavery. Riley's book was one of six that Abraham Lincoln claimed most influenced him. The Crescent Obscured is history made fun to read. Robert Allison teaches us what influence the Muslim world had on the infant nation. We learn that there certainly was much more than we might have expected before reading Allison's wonderful book.
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