Books : The Assassins
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 950
EAN: 9781842124512
ISBN: 184212451X
Label: Weidenfeld & Nicolson History
Manufacturer: Weidenfeld & Nicolson History
Number Of Pages: 176
Publication Date: February 06, 2003
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson History
Sales Rank: 899341
Studio: Weidenfeld & Nicolson History
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Product Description:
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 paradisical castle and sent them on murderous expeditions to visit rival princes and later imams.
One of "the hazards of the East," this group struck fear in the hearts of Crusaders and mainstream Muslims in and around Phoenicia, where tales abounded of princes felled in the night by Assassin daggers and of the Old Man's secret powers over his followers. (The name "assassin" comes from the Arabic "hashish," the narcotic effects of which were already known to Medieval Muslims.) According to Brocardus, a 14th-century German priest, "The Assassins...sell themselves, are thirsty for human blood, kill the innocent for a price, and care nothing for either life or salvation. Like the devil, they transfigure themselves into angels of light, by imitating the gestures, garments, languages, customs and acts of various nations and peoples; thus, hidden in sheep's clothing, they suffer death as soon as they are recognized."
In The Assassins, Bernard Lewis traces the history of this radical Islamic sect from the 13th century to the modern day. He studies the teachings of both the Assassins and their parent sect, the Ismailis, the spread of their ideas, and their continued influence on Muslim thought. He also traces the etymology of the word "assassin," which today is a common noun meaning one who kills by stealth or treachery, whose victim is a public figure, and whose motive is fanaticism or greed. Particularly insightful in light of the recent rise of Muslim fundamentalism, this readable, factual account of the group that lent its name to politically motivated murder places recent events in historical perspective and sheds new light on the fanatic mind.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
the assassins is one the best testament for bernard lewis. in this books, the author shows his love for Middle East and Islam culture. writing specifically on a sect, Lewis dissectates the middle age Middle east with a precision rarely seens. the complexity of the region already shows after the birth of Islam and lewis manages to keep the reading simple and entertaining. his research is proven to match the quality of his writing. Lewis has written numerous "current events" books on middle east. this is one goes to the origin (sort of) of the problem.
to read if intrested by the region or Islam.
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You come across a book every once in a while that you know is a solid, scholarly account of a period in history. As such you don't question the author's intent or doubt that his reasoning is flawed. In fact virtually everything you read is dead on, at least from what little you know of that time period. Bernard Lewis does this in his account of a small religious sect in the Middle East called the Ismailis, or commonly known as the Assassins.
Right from the beginning we are given a quick explanation on how the sect's converts and followers were duped into believing wholeheartedly that their leader, The Old Man Of The Mountain, was a prophet and that he could grant them a life in paradise if they did his bidding. Then, just as effortlessly, he moves on to give the background history that leads up to how they got to where they were and how they began to gain their power.
This was, of course, the use of assassinating their political rivals and striking fear into those that would oppose them or dare to come against them. They were not a large land owning sect, they didn't have the political clout to push their weight around. In fact they played a rather minor role in the overall picture. But what they did have was the ability to strike fear into everyone, no matter where they were or how powerful they were. Whether you were the Sultan, the Caliph, the Vizier, a Western king, earl or baron, or perhaps even the Mongol emperor that invaded with such a huge amount ... Read More
Rating:  -
As a previous reviewer pointed out, post 9/11 the sales of this book have probably gone through the roof not least because Lewis has been (not so subltely) making comparisons between the Assassins and Al-Qaeda but also because every Al-Qaeda opponent on the planet has been jumping on the bandwagon.
Sadly, this book aside from the obvious that it was first published years before the events of 9/11 is a missed opportunity to study a little known Islamic group and instead, relies upon shock and scandal and instead of reading like a scholarly study of a subject reads more like something you would find in a tabloid.
The book begins with some history of the word Assassin and how it came into the English language then onto some early books that have been published on the subject in the West. The book then moves onto some brief studies of the subject by British scholars in India and the briefest of analysis of the current descendants of the Assassins who reside in that country. The book then covers nothing more than the sensationalist stories of "The old man of the mountains" Who dispatched deadly assassins to murder political opponents and scholars alike. Whose movement struck fear into its enemies and was finally defeated by a similarly ruthless movement, the Mongols of Genghis and Hulagu Khans.
The book just fails miserably in studying just who exactly the Assassins were. There is simply not enough on the background of the movement. The Assassins ... Read More
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The new preface drew insightful conclusions of history to our current experience with the sucide bombers of radical islam. It set the tone to study the "Assassins" as a sect of radial Islam and try to make sense of what is happening today and possibly why. I feel it is a must read for anyone trying to build a foundation to understand radical Islam.
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The Assassins are part of the legend of the Crusades. The legend of their intoxicants, and the pleasures that initiates were allowed to sample before being sent on missions, are almost part of our historical lore, and of course the sect has lent its name to a word in the English language. This scholarly account by historian Bernard Lewis is detailed, and relentless at least in terms of sentimentality, brushing away legends and folklore and sticking to what's known of this splinter group of Islam and their culture, activities, motives, and fate.
It turns out that, as far as anyone knows, the Assassins are merely a splinter of the group called Ismailis (which still exists in Muslim countries, as a partially suppressed heresy). They existed for about three centuries, between the mid 11th century and the late 14th, in what is now northern Iran, and southern Syria. They never controlled a major city, and as a political entity, they appear to have survived largely through personal intimidation. While they were only so-so when it came to defeating armies, they were very effective at eliminating their leadership. In that era in which personal leadership, through monarchs and their surrogates, was the order of business for most governments in the area, this was particularly effective.
I enjoyed this book a great deal. If I do have a complaint, it's that the sum of knowledge about the Assassins, at least when Lewis wrote this, was rather thin, and so of course you don't ... Read More
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