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War on Sacred Grounds
- Narrated by: Charles Henderson Norman
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
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Publisher's summary
Sacred sites offer believers the possibility of communing with the divine and achieving deeper insight into their faith. Yet their spiritual and cultural importance can lead to competition as religious groups seek to exclude rivals from practicing potentially sacrilegious rituals in the hallowed space and wish to assert their own claims. Holy places thus create the potential for military, theological, or political clashes, not only between competing religious groups but also between religious groups and secular actors.
In War on Sacred Grounds, Ron E. Hassner investigates the causes and properties of conflicts over sites that are both venerated and contested; he also proposes potential means for managing these disputes. Sacred sites, he contends, are particularly prone to conflict because they provide valuable resources for both religious and political actors yet cannot be divided.
The management of conflicts over sacred sites requires cooperation, Hassner suggests, between political leaders interested in promoting conflict resolution and religious leaders who can shape the meaning and value that sacred places hold for believers. Because a reconfiguration of sacred space requires a confluence of political will, religious authority, and a window of opportunity, it is relatively rare. Drawing on the study of religion and the study of politics in equal measure, Hassner's account offers insight into the often-violent dynamics that come into play at the places where religion and politics collide.
The book is published by Cornell University Press. The audiobook will be published by University Press Audiobooks.
A Choice Magazine "Outstanding Academic Title"
"A tour de force." (Journal of Peace Research)
"This is a brilliantly argued book.... forcefully and vividly written." (Daniel Philpott, University of Notre Dame, author of Revolutions in Sovereignty)
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Absolutely Worth It, HIghly Recommended!
- By Frank on 04-17-03
By: Bernard Lewis
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The Kurds: The History of the Middle Eastern Ethnic Group and Their Quest for Kurdistan
- By: Charles River Editors
- Narrated by: Colin Fluxman
- Length: 1 hr and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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The Kurds: The History of the Middle Eastern Ethnic Group and Their Quest for Kurdistan examines the group and the contentious issues surrounding them. By delving deeper into their ethnic, religious, and political history, it is possible to understand the larger issues of statelessness and the striving for independence. At the same time, the relationships between the Kurds and the ruling regimes of the day have changed and altered the political landscape in the Middle East.
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Brief Historical Account but lacks depth.
- By Shadow Kurdi on 02-21-22
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The Lost History of Christianity
- The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church --- and How It Died
- By: Philip Jenkins
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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The Lost History of Christianity will change how we understand Christian and world history. Leading religion scholar Philip Jenkins reveals a vast Christian world to the east of the Roman Empire and how the earliest, most influential churches of the East---those that had the closest link to Jesus and the early church---died. In this paradigm-shifting book, Jenkins recovers a lost history, showing how the center of Christianity for centuries used to be the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, extending as far as China.
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Worthwhile with caveats
- By Telorast on 03-05-13
By: Philip Jenkins
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Catch-67
- The Left, the Right, and the Legacy of the Six-Day War
- By: Micah Goodman, Eylon Levy - translator
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Since the Six-Day War, Israelis have been entrenched in a national debate over whether to keep the land they conquered or to return some, if not all, of the territories to Palestinians. In a balanced and insightful analysis, Micah Goodman deftly sheds light on the ideas that have shaped Israelis' thinking on both sides of the debate about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Contrary to opinions that dominate the discussion, he discovers that the paradox of Israeli political discourse is that both sides are right in what they affirm - and wrong in what they deny.
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Very good book!
- By Kindle Customer on 12-11-18
By: Micah Goodman, and others
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The Mighty and the Almighty
- Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs
- By: Madeleine Albright
- Narrated by: Madeleine Albright
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Does America have a special mission, derived from God, to bring liberty and democracy to the world? How much influence does the Christian right have over U.S. foreign policy? And how should America deal with violent Islamist extremists? Madeleine Albright, the former Secretary of State and best-selling author of Madam Secretary, offers a thoughtful and often surprising look at the role of religion in shaping America's approach to the world.
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The point??
- By Thomas on 11-04-06
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China in the 21st Century, 3rd Edition
- What Everyone Needs to Know
- By: Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom, Maura Elizabeth Cunningham
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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In this fully revised and updated third edition, Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom and Maura Elizabeth Cunningham provide cogent answers to urgent questions regarding the world's newest superpower and offer a framework for understanding China's meteoric rise from developing country to superpower. Framing their answers through the historical legacies that largely define China's present-day trajectory, Wasserstrom and Cunningham introduce listeners to the Chinese Communist Party, the building boom in Shanghai, and the environmental fallout of rapid Chinese industrialization.
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Amazing!
- By Anonymous User on 07-11-20
By: Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom, and others
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Making the Arab World
- Nasser, Qutb, and the Clash That Shaped the Middle East
- By: Fawaz A. Gerges
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 18 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2013, just two years after the popular overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian military ousted the country's first democratically elected president - Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood - and subsequently led a brutal repression of the Islamist group. These bloody events echoed an older political rift: the splitting of nationalists and Islamists during the rule of Egyptian president and Arab nationalist leader Gamal Abdel Nasser. Fawaz Gerges, one of the world's leading authorities on the Middle East, tells how the clash between pan-Arab nationalism and pan-Islamism has shaped the history of the region.
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Why didn’t anyone tell the narrator he was mispronouncing the name of the guy the book was about?
- By Amazon Customer on 05-03-23
By: Fawaz A. Gerges
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Reconciliation
- Islam, Democracy, and the West
- By: Benazir Bhutto
- Narrated by: Rita Wolf
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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In Reconciliation, Bhutto recounts in gripping detail her final months in Pakistan and offers a bold new agenda for how to stem the tide of Islamic radicalism and to rediscover the values of tolerance and justice that lie at the heart of her religion.
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Female Muslim insight
- By Craig Bell on 03-07-08
By: Benazir Bhutto
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The Story of Christianity, Vol. 1, Revised and Updated
- The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation
- By: Justo L. González
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 18 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Story of Christianity, Vol. 1, Justo L. González, author of the highly praised three-volume History of Christian Thought, presents a narrative history of Christianity from the early church to the dawn of the Protestant reformation. From Jesus' faithful apostles to the early reformist John Wycliffe, González skillfully traces core theological issues and developments within the various traditions of the church, including major events outside of Europe, such as the Spanish and Portuguese conquest of the New World.
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Throughly engaging
- By Scott Pursley on 12-15-16
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Heart of Europe
- A History of the Holy Roman Empire
- By: Peter H. Wilson
- Narrated by: Napoleon Ryan
- Length: 34 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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The Holy Roman Empire lasted 1,000 years, far longer than ancient Rome. Yet this formidable dominion never inspired the awe of its predecessor. Voltaire quipped that it was neither holy, Roman, nor an empire. Yet as Peter H. Wilson shows, the Holy Roman Empire tells a millennial story of Europe better than the histories of individual nation-states.
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Mixed feelings on this one.
- By Stuart Seymour on 09-19-17
By: Peter H. Wilson
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From Babel to Dragomans
- Interpreting the Middle East
- By: Bernard Lewis
- Narrated by: William Neenan
- Length: 23 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Bernard Lewis is recognized around the globe as one of the leading authorities on Islam. Hailed as "the world's foremost Islamic scholar" (Wall Street Journal), as "a towering figure among experts on the culture and religion of the Muslim world" (Baltimore Sun), and as "the doyen of Middle Eastern studies" (New York Times), Lewis is nothing less than a national treasure, a trusted voice that politicians, journalists, historians, and the general public have all turned to for insight into the Middle East.
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Fifty Years Of Good Stuff
- By David on 04-10-15
By: Bernard Lewis
What listeners say about War on Sacred Grounds
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Kingsley
- 02-19-19
Extremely well researched and dense
'War on Sacred Grounds' is a very dense and detailed look at fights over sacred sights. It is not about religious wars (such as the crusades) but is about the battles and wars fought over specific locations; locations considered to be important to the religion.
Hassner sets up the book by detailing what exactly is a sacred space, and how that changes and (often) grows over time. He looks at what defines a sacred space and why it is important, with criteria such as the space being indivisible – it cannot be split and shared, for various religious reasons. Reasons with then become political reasons and grow well beyond the original conflict. For example the sacred space of the temple mount in Jerusalem grows over time and the importance and the fight stops being about that one individual spot but becomes about the whole city. The entirety of Jerusalem becomes a de facto sacred space in the eyes of the religions that are fighting over it. The political and the religious become inexplicably entwined.
The entire book looks at the issue through the lens of three contrasting, but not contradictory, ideas: materialist (looking at the political ramifications of bargaining over an indivisible space), interpretist (looking at the significance of the space to the believers) and constructivist (the role of leaders in shaping these spaces).
The book details why mismanagement of the conflict happens so often. Using various examples he points out where failures have previously occurred and points to potential causes. Often it comes to a lack of an understanding of the actual problem, treating the symptoms without understanding the cause, or due to a lack of religious awareness. One example has a hostile situation being broken up by military force, without the military force realising they were doing it on a religiously important day, which thus increased the tensions rather than relieved them
Hassner goes through two big case studies showing where there was some level of successful conflict management - Jerusalem in 1967 and Mecca in 1979. He goes through the history of the event, in a detailed and entertaining way. Meccas in 1979 was particularly engaging to me, as it was one that I knew very little about at all and provided great insight into the various groups and sects within Islam and the region. While Islam forbids any violence within the Grand Mosque, an Imam was able change and shape the rules of the religion to allow for the standoff to end. While it was a violent end, Hassner explains how it can still be seen a successful resolution in some ways.
These subjects addressed in my review only barely touches on much of the content here. It is a dense book, but well worth taking the time to go through it. Is it perfect? No. Buut any issue with it I found to be minor in comparison to the depth of knowledge and insight provided.
Narration by Charles Henderson Norman took a little bit to get used to. Initially he reminded me of an old timey radio presenter, but once I got used to it I really enjoyed it. He is a little quicker paced than most narrators, which combined with the density of the book, meant I had to slow it down slightly from my normal pace. Over all he is clear and engaged with the text and enjoyable to listen to.
This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this review voluntarily.
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