On Point on XM Public Radio had an interview with David Levering Lewis author of "God's Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215" this morning.
Lewis a pulitizer prize winner for his biographies of W.E.B. Du Bois essentially advances the argument that if the Berbers had swept into France from Spain (Al-Andalus) then European civilization would have essentially been fast forwarded 300 years. At least that is what I gathered from listening to his interview. I can't help but wonder if after that it wouldn't have essentially stalled. From what I know Islamic society isn't exactly known for it dynamism, at least after the Ottoman's took over the Caliphate. When he was directly questioned on the negative aspects of an Islamic Europe he tended to skip away from the question.
Books, Islam, David Levering Lewis
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