“[A] searing story of France’s attempt to colonize the vast Sahara desert and of two unforgettable men who dedicated their lives to the effort.” —Rob Mitchell, The Boston Herald Whether writing of the Alps, the high seas, or the North Pole, Fergus Fleming has won acclaim as one of today’s most vivid and engaging historians of adventure and exploration. The Sword and the Cross takes us to the Sahara at the end of the nineteenth century, when France had designs on a hostile wilderness dominated by deadly Tuareg nomads. Two fanatical adventurers, Charles de Foucauld and Henri Laperrine, rose to the cause of their country’s national honor. Abandoning his decadent lifestyle as a sensualist and womanizer, Foucauld founded a monastic order so severe that during his lifetime it never had a membership of more than one. Yet he remained a committed imperialist and from his remote hermitage continued to assist the military. The stern career soldier Laperrine, meanwhile, founded a camel corps whose exploits became legendary. During World War I the Sahara’s fragile peace crumbled. In the desert mountains Foucauld paid a tragic price for his role as imperial pawn. Laperrine, by then recalled to the Western Front, returned to avenge his friend. “Fleming captures the hopelessness of the French efforts to conquer the Saharan expanse . . . Provides a vital lesson about the limits of power.” —Zachary Karabell, Los Angeles Times

A concise overview of Spanish America during the colonial era (1492-1825), this study attempts a synthesis of Iberian and Latin American historical narratives within the context of world history. Spanish civilization was transferred to the Americas as Spain imposed its medieval Catholic culture upon the Americas successfully replacing the elite cultures of the Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas. Iberian culture became indigenous by way of cross-culturalization, and Creole elites found independence inevitable once their way of life became defined by American circumstances. Truxillo places emphasis on the big picture through examination of broad developments such as the rise and fall of Pre-Columbian civilizations, Baroque culture in Latin America, and the role of the Enlightenment in Spanish American independence. He details the career of Tlacaelel, the conquest of Mexico, European rivalry in the New World, and the crisis of government in the post-independence period both in Spain and the New World. The study also discusses developments in the fields of cultural studies and World Systems in the context of the acculturation of indigenous peoples to Iberian norms and the evolution of the Seville-based system of trade. Further, it examines the process by which the Bourbon reforms alienated Spanish American elites and prepared the way for independence.

A concise overview of Spanish America during the colonial era (1492-1825), this study attempts a synthesis of Iberian and Latin American historical narratives within the context of world history. Spanish civilization was transferred to the Americas as Spain imposed its medieval Catholic culture upon the Americas successfully replacing the elite cultures of the Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas. Iberian culture became indigenous by way of cross-culturalization, and Creole elites found independence inevitable once their way of life became defined by American circumstances. Truxillo places emphasis on the big picture through examination of broad developments such as the rise and fall of Pre-Columbian civilizations, Baroque culture in Latin America, and the role of the Enlightenment in Spanish American independence. He details the career of Tlacaelel, the conquest of Mexico, European rivalry in the New World, and the crisis of government in the post-independence period both in Spain and the New World. The study also discusses developments in the fields of cultural studies and World Systems in the context of the acculturation of indigenous peoples to Iberian norms and the evolution of the Seville-based system of trade. Further, it examines the process by which the Bourbon reforms alienated Spanish American elites and prepared the way for independence.

From conquistadores and explorers to Protestants, peasants and priests, eyewitnesses give narrative to the triumphs and tragedies of Latin America's religious development.

tumultuous events surrounding the First Crusade and the ensuing centuries of struggle for the conquest of the Holy Land has reverberated throughout the centuries and affected our collective psyche to this date. The Sword and the Green Cross offers a minutely researched analysis of the creation of one of the monastic and military Orders of the period: the Knights of Saint Lazarus. Devoid of the chequered popularity of their contemporary Knights Templar or the Knights of Saint John, the Knights of Saint Lazarus, with their green cross and invariable care of lepers and other afflicted pilgrims, nobles, knights and peasantry, offer the reader a fascinating history of diplomacy, military exploits, survival instinct and a legacy which has permeated throughout time. The book explores the Orders birth in the Outremer, its expansion and Papal sponsorship, its constant interaction with the Templars and the Hospitallers and its tremendous growth in Europe which later justified its lengthy operations on the Continent even though the Holy Land was lost to the Crusades. The book analyses its complete change from a Papal Order to a Monarchical Order under the benign overseeing of the French Kings and dwells at length on the immediate and long term ramifications of the French Revolution and the Orders demise. The Sword and the Green Cross colourfully projects the period in which the Order flourished and illustrates prominent Lazarites from throughout the centuries. It also minutely dissects the modern day revivals of Lazarite organisations worldwide and, by means of hitherto unpublished documentation, sifts through the interpolated myths of such a revival and its magnetic allure to thousands worldwide. With a forward by best-selling author Tim Wallace Murphy, The Sword and the Green Cross is a must read for all history buffs and those into Muslim-Christian relations and chivalry.

"This volume provides a series of new perspectives on the political, military and religious history of the reign Fernando III, king of Castile-León from 1217-1252. The essays collected here address the conquest of al-Andalus and the policies of Fernando III, Christian-Muslim relations in the Peninsula, the creation and curation of royal networks of power, the role of women at the Castilian court, and the impact of religious change in Castile-León. Assembling an international group of eleven leading scholars on this period of Iberian history, this volume combines military and religious history with a variety of novel approaches and methodologies to ask new and exciting questions about the reign of Fernando III and his place in medieval European history. Contributors are Martín Alvira, Carlos de Ayala Martínez, Janna Bianchini, Bárbara Boloix-Gallardo, Cristina Catalina, Francisco García Fitz, Francisco García-Serrano, Edward L. Holt, Kyle C. Lincoln, Miriam Shadis, and Teresa Witcombe"--

Arguing from Scripture and history, the author makes a compelling case that getting too close to any political or national ideology is disastrous for the church and harmful to society.