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Chapter 11

In Chapter 11 we look at the pastoral peoples of the world with a focus on those of the Eurasian steppe. Pastoral people by definition nomadic and draw their living from managing herds of animals. This lifestyle was a harsh one, filled with tough tasks, and war. War however enabled many pastoral peoples to become empires. From the early Assyrians who co-opted their pastoral neighbors use of chariots or the mongols whose superior riding ability was able to shock most contemporary armies. The culture of the pastoral people simply bred better warriors of the era, and their culture in fact may have produced more modern people. The pastoral life, draws few parallels to anything resembling modernity. Those who grew up in a rural area on a farm are the closest thing to it, as they learned the "early to bed, early to rise" lifestyle associated with livestock. However when that lifestyle is nomadic, and takes places within a semi permanent camp, life is abundantly more difficult. ...
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Chapter 9

Chapter 9 Chapter 9 allows us to look closer at Islam as religious movement, and the foundation it is built upon. While we also examine the social consequences that have occurred as a result of said movement. A thing of note is that the book labels pre-Islamic Arab culture as “Bedouin” this is at best a half truth. As non muslim bedouins existed before and after the founding of Islam, and to this day still exist in a variety of middle eastern countries. However their lifestyles closest modern parallel is that of the bedouin people, who live and embody the nomadic ideals of a loyal, close knit, hospitality crazed, clan/ tribe or family. These clans controlled the Arabian peninsula, and its valuable oasis in piecemeal. The prophet Muhammad was able to unify these clans, and tribes through various forms of conversion, ultimating unifying the the peninsula. The man and the message to unify the peninsula, was the the Quran, and the man was the prophet Muhammad. Muhammad's messag...
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Chapter 10

Global Christendom In Chapter 10 we look at Christianity in the lens of its expansion into the biggest religion in the world. With its various sects, and sub sects, it is a complex world of specificity, all built around the teachings of Jesus. Its initial spread was, by one of the very institutions that had tried to destroy it in totality. The Roman empire, had in fact killed the founder of the religion. However Constantine, A roman Emperor embraced the religion as his own, and in doing so set forth a path for Christianity to spread to every corner of the globe. Similarly when the Arab-Muslim Empire expanded its borders time and time again, the “christian world” began to contract. Physically no location on earth describes the complicated relationship of the Abrahamic religions as well as the “Dome of the Rock/ the location of the Second Temple.” The site where Abraham himself offered his son Isaac to god, and later generations built the first and second Jewish temples. In the se...
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