Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781490426341 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | CreateSpace Publishing |
| Publication date: | 06/12/2013 |
| Pages: | 336 |
| Product dimensions: | 8.90(w) x 6.00(h) x 0.70(d) |
About the Author
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Vienna's Last Jihad
4.5 out of 5
based on
0 ratings.
4 reviews.
 |
Copy received from Historical Fictional Virtual Book Tours for an honest review.
There are some books that after reading them I feel smarter and some I feel… not as smart. “Vienna’s Last Jihad” falls into both categories! I loved the wealth of information that Dawson provided in this book. I did feel a little overwhelmed with it because I was not aware of this pivotal moment in history. I thought that using Mathis, a Professor of Languages, to personalize this battle was very clever and made the struggle between the invading Muslim Turks of Vienna more relatable. The writing was engaging and interesting. There is a great balance of history and action. The author was able to make the story informative and at the same time quick pace. I also really liked the character, Matias. He was street and book smart, which seemed a great combination for the struggles and difficult decisions he was faced with. After reading, “Vienna’s Last Jihad” I want to learn more about the Ottoman Empire, which is the mark of a great book. I also loved that the author portrayed a moment in history where religion and political motivation where interwoven… it makes for an interesting discussion on the fusion of the two! I recommend and enjoyed this book.
|
|
Islam and the West had been at war for centuries, and the last part of the 17th Century found Europe in turmoil and the Ottoman Empire still attempting to expand into Europe. Sultan Suleiman The Magnificent had laid siege to Vienna in 1529, but failed to conquer the city. Some historians call this the “high water mark” of Islam’s expansion, however, the sultans of the Ottoman Empire did not received the memo.
In the West, the Thirty Years’ War had ended in 1648, and the printing press was fueling the Reformation. The Christian Reformation had split the Catholic Church and the Counter-Reformation, or Catholic Reformation, had begun. Religious orders were formed in the Catholic Church, with the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits, organized along military lines, the most effective order. The worldliness of the Renaissance Church had no part in their new order. The earth was the center of the universe, and any contradictory teaching was heresy.
Sultan Mehmed IV, The Hunter, realized Europe was right for conquest and Vienna, the Golden Apple, was the gateway. It was time to force the gate.
The story opens on June 20, 1683. Mathis Ziglar, a young professor of Oriental Languages and Koranic law, had been summoned by the College of Jesuits. He was pacing near the lecture hall, waiting for someone to escort him to the meeting. Am I to be honored or threatened, he wondered? And why am I so important when the largest Muslim army in eighty-nine years is marching toward our city?
Father Schneidermann arrives and escorts Ziglar to the council. Entering he finds eight men, four of which are Jesuits. Father Sistini, the Jesuit rector, greets him and announces the purpose of the summons is to review Ziglar’s progress toward tenure, and determine if he would be retained for another year. Then the real purpose of the meeting is revealed — to determine the correctness of Ziglar’s spiritual beliefs.
Father Brauer, a Jesuit and Ziglar’s future antagonists, attempted to embarrass Ziglar and discovers his quick mind and tongue, things that will both aid and hinder him through the story. The test came when Sistini posed a heresy question, “Will you renounce Copernicus’ teaching about the earth revolving around the sun?” Ziglar provides a bland answer and stirs a debate, thus establishing his character as intelligent, quick witted, knowledgeable and brash.
As the Muslims draw nearer, Ziglar becomes a translator and then an interrogator for the army. He is captured by the Tartars and recruited as a spy in order to protect his family and Magda, his fiancée. He reveals his agreement with the Tartars to the duke and becomes a secret double agent. Bauer despises Ziglar and lusts after Magda.
What follows is a rollicking adventure that tells the story of the Siege of Vienna through Mathis Ziglar’s eyes and adventures. The reader will experience the intrigues, customs, fighting, beliefs and the horrors of the late seventeenth century from both the Western and Islamic side.
Vienna’s Last Jihad is historical fiction at its best — religion, brutality, fanaticism, treachery, war, fighting, political intrigue, and spies and counter spies. A great read.
An historical prologue that set the stage for the siege and the story would be helpful, as would a glossary of terms.
|
|
I also had a very difficult time putting down Vienna's Last Jihad. I love adventure stories where you learn something. This time it was about that critical siege of Vienna and it's amazing victory over the Ottomans. As the professor went from one harrowing incident after another, I learned fascinating details in this well researched novel. Did you know that Tether ball was originally played with skulls reinforced with horse glue? This is just one of the interesting things I learned from C. Wayne Dawson. Grab this book and enjoy an exciting adventure.
|
|
C. Wayne Dawson’s Vienna’s Last Jihad is an absorbing piece of historical fiction that retells one of history’s most important turning points, the 1683 siege of Vienna, in a way never before attempted. Readers will cheer on Professor Mathis Zieglar, the saga’s protagonist, a brash but brilliant academic, as he battles the Inquisition and an invading horde of Muslim Turks, using his wits and martial talents in a struggle to save his family and the city of Vienna from impending doom.
Skillfully written and researched by a trained historian, Dawson’s Vienna’s Last Jihad is a compelling saga that will transport the reader to a world seldom portrayed in historical fiction and will plunge him/her into a web of danger, treachery, and white knuckle suspense. Were this reviewer to summarize the novel as briefly as possible, she would say “satisfying and never boring.”
|
Explore More Items
