A double Pulitzer Prize-winning historian will be giving a lecture at Clare College tonight about how Islam radically altered the course of European history.

Professor David Levering Lewis of New York University has been invited to Cambridge to speak about his new book, “God’s Crucible: Islam and the making of Europe, 570-1215”.

The book casts the origins of the ongoing division between East and West in a new light, analysing how Europe defined itself in opposition to a flourishing Islam and made virtues out of hereditary aristocracy, religious intolerance, and perpetual war.

Professor Lewis’ talk will offer a new perspective of how these events shaped today’s world and especially Europe. In his book, he clear-sightedly lays out the strengths and weaknesses of both worlds and re-examines what we know about the cultural conflict between Islam and the West.

Professor Lewis holds a Julius Silver Professorship, a chair dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences at New York University. In his career he has written many books, among them his biography of the African American civil rights activist W.E. B/ Du Bois, which won Pulitzer Prizes for each of its two volumes.

The talk will take place on Tuesday 11 March at the Master’s Lodge at 5 pm and is open to all, but those wishing to attend should Email Julie Durrant at jd10010@cam.ac.uk

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