Thursday, October 29, 2009

Leo Africanus 1

This book is exceedingly more interesting and enticing than the past ones. This book describes the period in which we were studying from the point of view of a single person. This shows a much more personal account of the facts we are used to learning about in class and in books. The first few chapters also give you an idea what the life of a Muslim woman in that time period. The book describes a husband that took on two wives after a few years with the first one and not receiving any children. Then it is the wife the bears the son that becomes important. Women were not allowed to leave the house without being veiled and usually accompanied by a man. They also had/have no say in whether they agree with their husbands taking on another wife or not.

The book describes the political situation, which was one of powerful monarchies. And also the attitudes of the people who lived under that rule. Obviously this was during the time of struggle between the Christians and Muslims because there were many comments against Christians as well as Jews. Also, The book describes the war with the Spanish under Ferdinand and Isabella. I think this is very interesting because before reading this book I understood the facts but I did not truly understand the situation. I think this book will really make this time period and what we have studied hit home.


--Dorothy R Smith "Bunny"

2 comments:

  1. I also agree - this book will be easier to read and more personable. Both are advantageous and helping us understand the time period.

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  2. I agree with you entirely that this book is far more interesting than the books we have read previously in this class. The narrative style will also provide for a far more meaningful way to learn about this part of history. By providing first person experiences, I can really grasp the emotions and relate in one way or another in order to determine the true intensity of the times. A list of factual information hardly ever has this strong of an effect which is why I am extremely excited to be reading this type of book instead.

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