At the beginning of the eighth century, the Arabs brought a revolution in power, religion and culture to Dark Ages Europe. David Levering Lewis' panoramic history begins with the fall of the Persian and Roman empires, followed by the rise of the prophet Muhammad and the creation of Muslim Spain. Five centuries of engagement between the Muslim imperium and an emerging Europe followed. God's Crucible, filled with accounts of some of the greatest battles ever fought, reveals how cosmopolitan Muslim al-Andalus flourished—a beacon of co-operation and tolerance between Islam, Judaism and Christianity—while proto-Europe, defining itself in opposition to Islam, made virtues out of hereditary aristocracy, religious intolerance, perpetual war and slavery. God's Crucible provides a new interpretation of world-altering events whose influence remains current.

"Lewis has produced a compelling, intellectually bracing and eminently readable account of the misnamed 'Dark Ages'."
Scotland on Sunday

"...this book tells a terrific story."
The Scotsman

"...Levering Lewis is a consummate storyteller, and God's Crucible will help make this increasingly important period of history more popularly accessible. For that, it is to be applauded."
Jason Webster, New Statesman

“Lewis does succeed in fashioning a thrilling and colourful narrative…”
Literary Review

"David Levering Lewis has produced an interesting but controversial book..."
Afkar

“In God’s Crucible, answers to many urgent questions, currently in the public discourse, can be deduced.”
The New York Time

“Lewis’s treatment... is lucid, and his command of detail is encyclopedic... The book is erudite.” Washington Post

"Two books stand out for me. David Levering Lewis's God's Crucible: Islam and the making of Europe, 570-1215 is the well-wrought story of what we Europeans owe to Muslim culture..."
A.N. Wilson, Times Literary Supplement, Christmas Roundup 2008

"Lewis tackles the epic story of the Muslim empire in Europe with energy and verve."
The Independent

February 2008 • £18.99 • ISBN 978 0 393 06472 8 • 384pp • 156 x 235mm • 8 pages of colour illustrations; 4 maps
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February 2009 • Paper • £12.99 • ISBN 978 0 393 33356 5 • 384pp • 140 x 210mm • 8 pages of illustrations; 4 maps
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