The Sword And The Cross

“[A] searing story of France’s attempt to colonize the vast Sahara desert and of two unforgettable men who dedicated their lives to the effort.” —Rob Mitchell, The Boston Herald Whether writing of the Alps, the high seas, or the North Pole, Fergus Fleming has won acclaim as one of today’s most vivid and engaging historians of adventure and exploration. The Sword and the Cross takes us to the Sahara at the end of the nineteenth century, when France had designs on a hostile wilderness dominated by deadly Tuareg nomads. Two fanatical adventurers, Charles de Foucauld and Henri Laperrine, rose to the cause of their country’s national honor. Abandoning his decadent lifestyle as a sensualist and womanizer, Foucauld founded a monastic order so severe that during his lifetime it never had a membership of more than one. Yet he remained a committed imperialist and from his remote hermitage continued to assist the military. The stern career soldier Laperrine, meanwhile, founded a camel corps whose exploits became legendary. During World War I the Sahara’s fragile peace crumbled. In the desert mountains Foucauld paid a tragic price for his role as imperial pawn. Laperrine, by then recalled to the Western Front, returned to avenge his friend. “Fleming captures the hopelessness of the French efforts to conquer the Saharan expanse . . . Provides a vital lesson about the limits of power.” —Zachary Karabell, Los Angeles Times

A concise overview of Spanish America during the colonial era (1492-1825), this study attempts a synthesis of Iberian and Latin American historical narratives within the context of world history. Spanish civilization was transferred to the Americas as Spain imposed its medieval Catholic culture upon the Americas successfully replacing the elite cultures of the Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas. Iberian culture became indigenous by way of cross-culturalization, and Creole elites found independence inevitable once their way of life became defined by American circumstances. Truxillo places emphasis on the big picture through examination of broad developments such as the rise and fall of Pre-Columbian civilizations, Baroque culture in Latin America, and the role of the Enlightenment in Spanish American independence. He details the career of Tlacaelel, the conquest of Mexico, European rivalry in the New World, and the crisis of government in the post-independence period both in Spain and the New World. The study also discusses developments in the fields of cultural studies and World Systems in the context of the acculturation of indigenous peoples to Iberian norms and the evolution of the Seville-based system of trade. Further, it examines the process by which the Bourbon reforms alienated Spanish American elites and prepared the way for independence.

Throughout the early centuries of Christianity, the Roman government continually tried to suppress the new religion. Ultimately it failed, but only after a long period of struggle, misunderstanding, and persecution. Grant has placed this clash between government and Christianity in the context of the entire history of the policy of Roman rulers concerning religion. Tracing the government's attitude toward foreign religions from the early days of the republic on through the empire, Grant shows how Rome tried to preserve its religious and cultural traditions from all external influences. Thus, there was a long series of legal and judicial precedents for treating Christianity as subversive. The author analyzes these precedents and the particular teachings of Christianity which set the state against it. This is a scholarly study, but it is written with clarity and conciseness. Within its scope is a broad sweep of a dramatic period in religious history, a period which contains many fascinating parallels to the fight for freedom and human rights in the world today.

Offers an account of the exploration of the Sahara that focuses on the exploits and experiences of two men--Charles de Foucauld, a one-time sensualist who abandoned his decadent lifestyle for a religious vocation, and Henri Laperrine, the founder of a legendary camel corps.