Holy war ideas appear among Muslims during the earliest manifestations of the religion. This book locates the origin of Jihad and traces its evolution as an idea with the intellectual history of the concept of Jihad in Islam as well as how it has been misapplied by modern Islamic terrorists and suicide bombers.

(view table of contents)

This is a study of Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries--a period of economic and cultural upheaval, of dramatic changes in politics, society, and religion, and of constant warring among the emergent states. Based on extensive research, this book covers such diverse themes as the Reformation, witchcraft, diplomacy, population structure, the growth of capitalism, wars of religion, and wars of expansion. Bonney also examines the Scandinavian countries and Russia, areas frequently neglected by historians.