A review of the first 50 pages

The foreword of the book is written by Harold Bloom, prolific contemporary writer, lterary and religious critic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Bloom). While he reserves such words as 'wise', 'poignant', 'authentic', 'a love song' and a 'heartening gesture of the spirit' for Menocal's work, he also reflects many critics of the book: Menocal's attempt is more at describing an 'idealization, healthy and useful' but which may not be 'wholly convincing' in itself.

The first chapter starts with the flight of the sole survivor of the Ummayyad dynasty, Abd al-Rahman, from Damascus, where his family has just been deposed by the Abbasids (in 750), to the far out-post of the Islamic empire, Al-Andalus. Earlier, in 711, Tariq ibn Ziyad, crossed the strait of Gibraltar (named after him: Jabal-at-Tariq for Gibraltar), and initiated the Muslim claims for the land that is today's Portugal, Spain and southern France. Abd-ar-Rahman, an Ummayyad Prince and known as "the Falcon of the Quraysh" quickly united the Muslim factions and built a tolerant state, embracing much of the local cultures, as well as inheritting the Syrian, Berber and Arab contributions. Menocal later dedicates important chapters detailing the pivotal and almost diplomatic role played by a homesick Abd al-Rahman in establishing a model Islamic state in its day which has important lessons for us all today.

Menocal takes us in a brief history of this "first-rate" place in the next chapter. It is indeed difficult to summarize and do justice to such a multi-ethnic world, teeming with polictics, battles and an ever-changing face, in a single chapter. We need to recall that the Muslims' presence in Al-Andalus lasted for a time period which is three times the duration of the American history. As a result, readers not familiar with some background history of the area and with terms and personalities such as the Almoravids, the Almohads, the battle of Poitiers, Charlemagne, etc., may feel at lost. In short, Menocal tries to explain the many factors that brought down the epic and grandeur of Al-Andalus, Cordoba and Granada and finally the expulsion of the Moors and Jews from the area in late 1400s as a succession on such factors as internecine political struggles, breakdown of a unified Muslim polity, influence and take over of a more puritanical Berber South and pressure from a growing crusading Christian North.

The book so far is proving to be a very beautiful read.