"Peace Be Upon You." Quick Summary: Karabell shows how Christians, Jews and Muslims lived in some degree of harmony from Islam’s birth to around the late 1800s.
I really enjoyed this book. It provided a history lesson that I wasn’t aware existed. It was also easy to read. One problem I have with some history books is that they throw 50 names at you and expect you to remember these individuals 200 pages later. Karabell zeroes in on just a handful of key individuals in each chapter. So admittedly you’re not getting a full picture of the time periods he covers, but the book does give you the high level look that is very helpful for individuals like me who don’t have a college degree in history.
Criticism. I think at times he stretches a bit to make it look like Muslims/Jews/Christians lived side-by-side without problems throughout the 1,000 year reign of various Muslim empires. At one point, if not more, he admits that Muslims treated the People of the Book with kindness, because they were in a position of power. I think this is an important factor to take into consideration. On the other hand, he does argue that many of the conflicts between the religious groups were often not based in religion.
He has some interesting stories. For example, during the Crusades the two sides would fight it out and then decide to call a truce for the day and greet each other on friendly terms.
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