: Offers a PDF preview and scholarly reviews of the 1993 revised edition published by Oneworld. Google Books

He demonstrates how medieval writers (theologians, chroniclers, poets, and crusade propagandists) systematically distorted Islam to serve their own religious and political needs. Key distortions included:

Daniel argued that by the 12th century, a standardized "western image" of Islam had solidified. This image was not based on empirical observation but on theological refutation and fear. His work directly influenced Edward Said, who cited Daniel extensively in Orientalism (1978).

He painstakingly demonstrates that medieval Christian scholars, poets, preachers, and chroniclers did not seek accurate information about the Qur’an, the Prophet Muhammad, or Islamic law. Instead, they created a polemical caricature to serve three purposes:

Norman Daniel’s Islam and the West: The Making of an Image analyzes how medieval Western Christendom constructed a lasting, distorted image of Islam to justify religious and political hostility. The work argues that these foundational, centuries-old prejudices continue to shape modern Western perceptions of the Islamic world. Access the text and related scholarly analyses via Internet Archive . [PDF] Islam and the West: The Making of an Image Download