Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christina Hendricks, Richard Jenkins and John Turturro star in this comedy drama directed by John Slattery and adapted from the novel by Pete Dexter. In the 1970s in the working-class town of God's Pocket, troubled 20-something Leon (Caleb Landry Jones) is seemingly accidentally killed on a building site. At the request of Leon's mother Jeannie (Hendricks), who is convinced there was some foul play, her husband, small-time criminal Mickey Scarpato (Hoffman), investigates the death with the help of his friend Arthur 'Bird' Capezio (Turturro). Meanwhile, the well-known journalist Richard Shellburn (Jenkins) is also searching for the truth behind the incident and gets close to Jeannie in the process.

The social and linguistic history of medieval Sicily is both intriguing and complex. Before the Muslim invasion of 827, the islanders spoke dialects of either Greek or Latin or both. On the arrival of the Normans around 1060 Arabic was the dominant language, but by 1250 Sicily was an almost exclusively Christian island, with Romance dialects in evidence everywhere. Of particular importance to the development of Sicily was the formative period of Norman rule (1061 1194), when most of the key transitions from an Arabic-speaking Muslim island to a 'Latin'-speaking Christian one were made. This work sets out the evidence for those changes and provides an authoritative approach that re-defines the conventional thinking on the subject.

The social and linguistic history of medieval Sicily is both intriguing and complex. Before the Muslim invasion of 827, the islanders spoke dialects of either Greek or Latin or both. On the arrival of the Normans around 1060 Arabic was the dominant language, but by 1250 Sicily was an almost exclusively Christian island, with Romance dialects in evidence everywhere. Of particular importance to the development of Sicily was the formative period of Norman rule (1061 1194), when most of the key transitions from an Arabic-speaking Muslim island to a 'Latin'-speaking Christian one were made. This work sets out the evidence for those changes and provides an authoritative approach that re-defines the conventional thinking on the subject.

This significant new work focuses on the formation and fragmentation of an Arab-Muslim state and its society in Sicily and south Italy between 800 and 1300, which led to the formation of an enduring Muslim--Christian frontier during the age of the Crusades. It examines the long- and short-term impact of Muslim authority in regions that were to fall into the hands of European rulers, and explains how and why Muslim and Norman conquests imported radically different dynamics to the central Mediterranean. On the island of Sicily, a majority Muslim population came to be ruled by Christian kings who adopted and adapted political ideologies from Mediterranean regimes, while absorbing cultural influences from the diverse peoples over whom they reigned. This work provides an engaging, expert and wide-ranging introduction to the subject, and offers fresh, clear insights into the evolution of both Europe and the Islamic world. Key Features *An authoritative new book in a field where very little has yet been written *Explores the formation of lasting Muslim-Christian frontiers in medieval Europe. *Covers issues including Muslim-Christian relations, conquest, colonisation, conflict and acculturation, and the transmission and exchange of ideas from east to west *Suitable for a range of readers from the interested public and students to university researchers