A fascinating previously unpublished diary written by Gunner Sydney Hall while serving in three Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) batteries in the Great War spanning his situation in 1916, joining up, training, service in France and Flanders and demobilisation. This diary was first typed in the 1920’s from his war time diaries and while fresh in his mind, Hall provides vivid descriptions of daily life, relationships among the men, technical aspects of the battery, going into action and the passage to victory in 1918. The author has verified names of people and places as well as dates and set each chapter in the historical context of the war on the Western Front.
"In The Race for Paradise, Paul M. Cobb offers an accurate and accessible representation of the Islamic experience of the Crusades during the Middle Ages. Cobb overturns previous claims and presents new arguments, such as the idea that the Frankish invasions of the Near East were something of a side-show to the broader internal conflict between Sunnis and Shi'ites in the region. The Race for Paradise moves along two fronts as Cobb stresses that, for medieval Muslims, the contemporaneous Latin Christian expansion throughout the Mediterranean was seen as closely linked to events in the Levant. As a consequence of this expanded geographical range, the book takes a broader chronological range to encompass the campaigns of Spanish kings north of the Ebro and the Norman conquest of Sicily (beginning in 1060), well before Pope Urban II's famous call to the First Crusade in 1095. Finally, The Race for Paradise brilliantly combats the trend to portray the history of the Crusades, particularly the Islamic experience, in simplistic or binary terms. Muslims did not solely experience the Crusades as fanatical warriors or as helpless victims, Cobb writes; as with any other human experience of similar magnitude, the Crusades were experienced in a great variety of ways, ranging from heroic martyrdom, to collaboration, to utter indifference."--Publisher information.
The biography delves into the life of Usama Ibn Munqidh, a Syrian poet and warrior active during pivotal moments in Islamic history, including the Crusades and the rise of the Turks. While he served various lords, including Saladin, his legacy as a poet remains significant. The book explores his poetry, memoirs, and political experiences, providing insights into the historical context that shaped his work. It also includes a guide for further reading, a family tree, and a glossary of key figures, making it a valuable resource on Usama's life and era.
