Purity Lost: Transgressing Boundaries in the Eastern Mediterranean, 1000-1400

This intriguing study investigates the porous nature of social, political, and religious boundaries prevalent in the eastern Mediterranean -- from the Black Sea to Egypt -- during the Middle Ages. Steven A. Epstein finds that people consistently defied, overlooked, or transcended restrictions designed to preserve racial and cultural purity in order to establish relationships with those different from themselves.

Steven A. Epstein is the Ahmanson-Murphy Distinguished Professor of Medieval History at the University of Kansas.