Medieval Jewish life under Islamic rule proved markedly different from Jewish experiences in Christian Europe, challenging both romanticized and darkened historical narratives of Muslim-Jewish relations. Mark R. Cohen's "Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages" dismantles this "myth-countermyth" debate through comparative historical analysis, confronting both Heinrich Graetz's idealized portrayal of Jewish life in Islamic lands and modern counter-narratives emphasizing persecution. By examining religious, legal, economic, and social determinants of Jewish status, Cohen reveals how fundamental theological differences between Christianity and Islam produced divergent minority experiences. Christianity's foundational anti-Judaism, rooted in supersession claims and self-definition against Judaism, generated systematic hostility absent in Islamic theology. While Islam's dhimmi system imposed discriminatory conditions on Jews, it lacked the theological tensions and eschatological disappointments that plagued Christian-Jewish relations. Through this methodological lens, Cohen demonstrates that Jews in Islamic societies, despite experiencing periodic persecution, generally achieved greater security and cultural integration than their European counterparts, illuminating how theological frameworks fundamentally shaped interfaith relations in medieval societies.