The stories of 'The Tenth Parallel' examine the complex relationships of religion, land, and oil, among other resources; local conflicts and global ideology; politics and contemporary martyrdom, both Islamic and Christian.

An authoritative account of Vasco da Gama's historic and audacious attempt to seize the spice routes and re-conquer the Holy Land. It puts the reader on da Gama's ships in the midst of a terrifying yet exciting new world, and in doing so traces the ancestry of antagonism between Christianity and Islam.