An absorbing history of Christians, Muslims and Jews that highlights periods of inter-religious coexistence and cooperation throughout the centuries, shattering the notion that these three faiths are doomed to live in conflict with one another. Karabell writes about the caliph Harun al-Rashid, who ruled from Baghdad, his men of learning drawing liberally from the philosophical traditions of Aristotle and Plato. From the outset, Muslims viewed Christians and Jews as distant, slightly errant relatives, who were to be given respect since they worshipped the same God. Retrieving the forgotten history of the relations between Islam and the West is a vital ingredient to a more stable, secure world.