Blogging the Bookshelf

Blogging my bookshelf – one book at a time

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Entries Tagged as 'isolation'

The Janissaries – “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” – Mohsin Hamid

December 12th, 2011 · Comments Off on The Janissaries – “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” – Mohsin Hamid · Culture, History, Pakistan, Religion, War

“Have you heard of the janissaries?” “No,” I said. “They were Christian boys,” he explained, “captured by the Ottomans and trained to be soldiers in a Muslim army, at that time the greatest army in the world. They were ferocious and utterly loyal: they had fought to erase their own civilisations, so they had nothing […]

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