This collection of essays by seven scholars is a straightforward narrative of real worldampmdashintellectual commercial spiritual philosophical scientific aestheticampmdashcreative engagement among Jews Muslims and some Christians in daily life in Spain and around the Mediterranean. History as Prelude is a major contribution to the IsraeliArab peace process because it underminesampmdashin fact blows awayampmdashthe efforts of propagandists who serve governments or political movements to negate the reality of the ArabJewish relationship in the medieval Mediterranean. The contributors in unassuming wellresearched scholarship have erected a wall protecting historical reality from distortion providing irrefutableampmdashand often delightfulampmdashexamples of creative coexistence.