The Assassins A Radical Sect in Islam |
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Author:
| Lewis, Bernard |
ISBN: | 978-0-19-520550-3 |
Publication Date: | Apr 1987 |
Publisher: | Oxford University Press, Incorporated
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Book Format: | Paperback |
List Price: | USD $12.95 |
Book Description:
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The Assassins is the most comprehensive, readable, and authoritative account of history's first terrorists. A fanatical sect of Islam, first mentioned in accounts of the Crusades, the Assassins were the first group to make planned, systematic use of murder as a political weapon. According to Medieval historians, and to such famous travelers as Marco Polo, the Assassins lived in the Levant Mountains and were ruled by a mysterious "Old Man of the Mountain" who housed his followers in a...
More DescriptionThe Assassins is the most comprehensive, readable, and authoritative account of history's first terrorists. A fanatical sect of Islam, first mentioned in accounts of the Crusades, the Assassins were the first group to make planned, systematic use of murder as a political weapon. According to Medieval historians, and to such famous travelers as Marco Polo, the Assassins lived in the Levant Mountains and were ruled by a mysterious "Old Man of the Mountain" who housed his followers in a paradisical castle and sent them on murderous expeditions to visit rival princes and later imams.
Bernard Lewis here traces the history of this sect from the 13th century to the present day, examining their teachings, the spread of their ideas, and their influence on Muslim thought. A readable, factual account of the group that lent its name to politically or fanatically motivated murder, The Assassins sheds new light on the fanatic mind and a kind of treachery that is increasingly problematic in the modern world.