Archive for July 2011
Slouching Toward Jerusalem
I’ve been fascinated by the Crusades for several years now. Not surprising, I suppose, given my basic interest in the times and places where two cultures touch (or in the case of the Crusades, whack at) each other and change. I’ve read accounts of what the Crusades looked like from the Muslim perspective. (Barbarian…
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Road Trip Through History: Daniel Boone Home and Boonesfield Village
Over the 4th of July weekend, My Own True Love and I headed toward southwest Missouri and the Toler family reunion. A family reunion is a worthy goal in itself. Especially when it includes homemade ice cream and Grandma Toler’s Chocolate Cake. But as far as we’re concerned, a road trip isn’t a road trip…
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Word with a Past: Assassin
The original Assassins were members of a revolutionary Shiite splinter group founded in eleventh century Persia by Hassan Sabbah. Like many schismatic religious groups, the Assassins believed that Muslims, including mainstream Shiites, had taken a wrong turn. Islam needed to go back to its foundations. As far as other Muslims were concerned, Sabbah’s beliefs were…
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