Assignment

Mark Cohen's Under Crescent and Cross covers more or less the same period and the same geographical region as the previous book. However, here the focus is on the situation of the Jews under the medieval Islamic and Christian civilizations. The discussion is illuminating about the situation of Jewish communities in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. But it also tells us quite a lot about important characteristics of these two competing medieval civilizations when it comes to their treatment of minorities and their role in Christian and Muslim societies in the Middle Ages (I emphasize here ‘medieval' and ‘Middle Ages' several times to underline the fact that the facts described and the insights they give do NOT necessarily apply to later periods).

The Assignment

Once you are done reading the book: Write a paper, no more than 5 double-spaced pages, in which you reflect on the important and most interesting points made in the book about Jewish life under Crescent and Cross during the Middle Ages. Discuss both illuminating and interesting facts/developments in Jewish communities as well as how or in what ways The West and the World I (Summer I 2016) the situation of the Jews tells us something about the medieval Christian and Islamic civilizations.

The guidelines allow a lot of room for maneuverability in terms of style of writing and content. I do NOT expect from you a specific format. What I do want to see is that you actually read the book, engaged with its narrative and arguments, and explicated your thoughts on it in a lucid and thoughtful essay.

You should feel free to be judgmental about the book, including commenting on things that were new/old news/interesting/banal/thoughtprovoking/prosaic/enlightening/non-sensical, etc. to/for you.

As stated above, whenever you make a general statement, I expect specific examples from the text to support it. Each example should be referenced properly (citations should include page number(s), but other than that you may use whichever system you feel comfortable with). Make sure to insert ‘page numbers' to your paper and to put your name on its first page.