''Through Darkest Europe'' (previously announced as ''God Wills It'') is an

alternate history Alternate history (also referred to as alternative history, allohistory, althist, or simply A.H.) is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which one or more historical events have occurred but are resolved differently than in actual history. As ...

novel by

Harry Turtledove Harry Norman Turtledove (born June 14, 1949) is an American author who is best known for his work in the genres of alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction, and mystery fiction. He is a student of history and completed his ...

. The book is set in an alternate present in which Islamic countries form a prosperous, democratic and progressive

First World The concept of the First World was originally one of the " Three Worlds" formed by the global political landscape of the Cold War, as it grouped together those countries that were aligned with the Western Bloc of the United States. This groupin ...

, while underdeveloped Christian countries suffer from religious fanaticism.Through Darkest Europe
MacMillan Publishers.

Plot

In this alternate world, the dominating Muslim cultures of

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

are "liberal, tolerant, and above all rich."

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

meanwhile is a hot spot of

Christian fundamentalism Christian fundamentalism, also known as fundamental Christianity or fundamentalist Christianity, is a religious movement emphasizing biblical literalism. In its modern form, it began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries among British an ...

, with assassinations, hijackings, and bombings committed by extremist groups such as the Aquinists. Senior Investigator Khalid al-Zarzisi is sent to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

with his partner Investigator Dawud ibn Musa with the mission of protecting the Grand Duke ( monarch of all Italy), the impoverished

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

, and preventing European instability from affecting the First World. The alternate history's point of departure, as detailed in the first chapter, occurred between the 11th and 13th centuries due to different developments in

Christian theology Christian theology is the theology – the systematic study of the divine and religion – of Christianity, Christian belief and practice. It concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Ch ...

and

Islamic theology Schools of Islamic theology are various Islamic schools and branches in different schools of thought regarding creed. The main schools of Islamic theology include the extant Mu'tazili, Ash'ari, Maturidi, and Athari schools; the extinct ones ...

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest, the foremost Scholasticism, Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the W ...

, who in the real world sought to reconcile religion and reason, taught that Christianity and reason were incompatible, and that religious faith should override reason. Conversely,

Al-Ghazali Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111), archaically Latinized as Algazelus, was a Shafi'i Sunni Muslim scholar and polymath. He is known as one of the most prominent and influential jurisconsults, legal theoreticians, muftis, philosophers, the ...

, who in the real world argued that Islamic faith was superior to philosophy and science, thought that the two were compatible. The developed First World has advanced science, including Turkish

Moon landing A Moon landing or lunar landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon, including both crewed and robotic missions. The first human-made object to touch the Moon was Luna 2 in 1959. In 1969 Apollo 11 was the first cr ...

Classical Arabic Classical Arabic or Quranic Arabic () is the standardized literary form of Arabic used from the 7th century and throughout the Middle Ages, most notably in Umayyad Caliphate, Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphate, Abbasid literary texts such as poetry, e ...

is used as a

world language A world language (sometimes called a global language or, rarely, an international language) is a language that is geographically widespread and makes it possible for members of different language communities to communicate. The term may also be use ...

spoken by the educated and used in standard signs. Muslim culture, language, and style spread around the world with the spread of modernity.

References

External links

Through Darkest Europe
on

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...

. 2018 American novels Fiction about Islam Fiction about Christianity Novels by Harry Turtledove American alternate history novels Fiction set in 2018 Tor Books books Novels set in Italy Novels set in France {{2010s-ah-novel-stub

Plot

See also

References

External links