Raymond Ibrahim’s Book "Defenders of the West" when "Christendom Learned to Fight Fire with Fire": "The Christian Heroes Who Stood Against Islam, chronicles the lives of eight great Crusaders who defended Christians against Islamic extermination, savagery, occupation, and slavery"
The following book review by Lucine Kasbarian, a journalist and editorial cartoonist, recently appeared on American Thinker.
Raymond Ibrahim’s Defenders of the West: The Christian Heroes Who Stood Against Islam, chronicles the lives of eight great Crusaders who defended Christians against Islamic extermination, savagery, occupation, and slavery. These heroes demonstrated great courage on the battlefield and a fierce devotion to their Christian faith. Raymond Ibrahim, an expert in Islamic history and doctrine and a frequent contributor to American Thinker, spotlights Duke Godfrey of Bouillon, France; El Cid (Roderick Diaz of Spain); King Richard the Lionheart of England; St. Ferdinand of Spain; St. Louis of France; John Hunyadi of Wallachia; Skanderbeg, the Albanian Braveheart; and Vlad III Dracula, the Lord Impaler of Romania. The valor of these Christian ironmen who met toe to toe with such warmongers defies belief.
Written in an engaging style using accessible language, these remarkable, factual incidents leave the readers on the edge of their seats. Raymond Ibrahim conducted an impressive amount of research from first-hand source...
.... Defenders of the West also shows how Jihadist behavior has existed on a historic continuum beginning in ancient times. This is sure to open the eyes of those who view and even excuse the atrocities of the 1915 Turkish Genocide of indigenous Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks as a singular event mired in the circumstances of the times. By allowing the primary sources to speak for themselves, the author gives readers the opportunity to compare Jihadists’ moral values to the Crusaders’ values so that they can draw their own conclusions.
Once read, these stirring, heartbreaking and fantastic tales are not easily forgotten. Rather than elaborate on the incredible and often terrifying exploits, suffice to say that these monarchs and military leaders learned from history and bitter experience that only by fighting fire with fire could they hope to establish peace and protect fellow Christians. That makes this book perfect for anyone who is fascinated by the power of knighthood and wishes to witness how far some Christians were willing to go to secure their rights to live and worship in freedom and dignity.
Ibrahim concludes by evaluating what is taking place now, including the mainstream media suppression of the global war on Christians. If we ignore his cautionary words, we do so at our own peril. [https://www.raymondibrahim.com/2022/12/19/when-christendom-learned-to-fight-fire-with-fire/]
Review
This exciting and very well-researched book introduces us to the lives and heroic deeds of courageous men who, against great odds, defended their people and their culture from an implacable enemy.
-- "Darío Fernández-Morera, author of The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise" --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
Review
"Defenders of the West is engaging storytelling of fascinating people and forgotten events at its best. Although anchored in arcane or archaic texts, it reads and flows like an adroitly crafted novel, buttressed by a scholarship that allows those of the past to speak for the past." —Victor Davis Hanson, Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution
"Relying primarily on contemporary sources, Raymond Ibrahim vividly tells the story of 'eight eminently violent men' who played leading roles fighting Muslims back in the era 1100-1500, when Christianity was a 'muscular religion.' By recalling those exploits, the author hopes not just to pay tribute to distant accomplishments but to inspire today's Christians again to 'stand against Islam.'" —Daniel Pipes, president, Middle East Forum
"For two decades, Raymond Ibrahim has been one of the few historians telling us the truth about Islam and its thousand-year assault on the West. With narrative force, clarity, and a command of primary sources, his new book Defenders of the West tells the story of that millennium of aggression and the heroic resistance that saved the West from its oldest enemy." —Bruce S. Thornton, Research Fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution, and Executive Member of the Working Group on the Role of Military History in Contemporary Conflict
"With his trademark erudition and intellectual courage, Raymond Ibrahim chronicles the exploits of eight Western Christian Defenders against Islamic imperialism, including four—Ferdinand, Hunyadi, Skanderbeg, and Vlad Țepeș—who defended or liberated their home territories from Islam. An unapologetic, pellucid reminder for our era about the necessity of standing resolute against the unprovoked aggression of Islam's timeless institution, jihad." —Andrew Bostom, MD, MS, author of The Legacy of Jihad, The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism, and Sharia Versus Freedom
"This exciting and very well-researched book introduces us to the lives and heroic deeds of courageous men who, against great odds, defended their people and their culture from an implacable enemy." —Darío Fernández-Morera, Associate Professor Emeritus of Northwestern University, author of The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise: Muslims, Christians, and Jews Under Islamic Rule in Medieval Spain
"In a brilliantly written and highly dramatic book, Raymond Ibrahim brings to life eight Christian heroes who stood up against evil and injustice to fight for human dignity and the Christian faith in various theatres of war. Remarkable tales from a time of massive upheaval—not unlike our own age. While the book outwardly documents a history of fierce warfare, it also manages to invoke matters of the heart that are relatable to the average reader." —Hanne Nabintu Herland, African-born historian of religions and bestselling author in Norway
"Raymond Ibrahim is a highly intelligent student of history and the civilizational warfare of Islamic jihadism." —Allen West, retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and former Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
"Military historian Raymond Ibrahim is of Egyptian origin, fluent in Arabic, and an expert on the centuries-long armed conflicts between the West and Islam." —National Association of Scholars
"[S]uch a refreshing, even thrilling read. ..... Defenders of the West includes a wealth of detail ...grounded in more than 1200 endnotes, mostly from both Christian and Arabic primary sources, without ever losing narrative momentum.... As a reader with a special passion for medieval history and chivalric exploits both fictional and historical, I can attest that Raymond Ibrahim's new book is as essential and compelling, if not more so, as his previous one [Sword and Scimitar].......[F]or the West to survive its current enemies, both foreign and domestic, it needs new Defenders. Toward that end, Defenders of the West serves as much-needed edification and inspiration." — FrontPage Magazine (Mark Tapson) --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. [https://www.amazon.com/Defenders-West-Christian-Heroes-Against-ebook/dp/B09ZJYFD2W/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1669917024&sr=8-1]
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