The Crusades

By Thomas Asbridge

The Crusades - Thomas Asbridge
  • Release Date: 2010-03-30
  • Genre: Ancient History
Score: 4
4
From 99 Ratings

Description

The Crusades is an authoritative, accessible single-volume history of the brutal struggle for the Holy Land in the Middle Ages. Thomas Asbridge—a renowned historian who writes with “maximum vividness” (Joan Acocella, The New Yorker)—covers the years 1095 to 1291 in this  big, ambitious, readable account of one of the most fascinating periods in history. From Richard the Lionheart to the mighty Saladin, from the emperors of Byzantium to the Knights Templar, Asbridge’s book is a magnificent epic of Holy War between the Christian and Islamic worlds, full of adventure, intrigue, and sweeping grandeur.

Reviews

  • Disregard right wing xenophobic reviews. This is solid history

    5
    By Prideful Terrier
    Fine book with solid history.
  • Good, Unbiased Source of Information

    5
    By TheRain902
    It is evident that the people leaving reviews accusing the author of being biased against the Christians did not fully understand the text, as the author offers a fair amount of criticism against Muslims as well as Christians. The text in no way attempts to glorify one side or the other, and I found it to be relatively unbiased. I felt that the author actually made it a point to criticize and praise both sides equally in order to avoid people accusing him of bias, but clearly you can’t please everyone, especially if they were only looking for this book to confirm biases or suspicions they had beforehand.
  • Research Paper

    5
    By Pinkladybug207
    I used this book as a source for a reasearch paper I did on the crusades, and it was really helpful!
  • Not as biased as you would think

    4
    By im-now-broke
    The book is very good at not being biased. The history is correct and states the facts. I enjoy it and hope that the people writing the negitive reviews actually read the book.
  • To the leftist reviewer throwing out the racist card

    1
    By M1A_fan
    Just had to mention this, regarding the reviewer accusing others of racism. Whoever calls those who have different opinions racist shows the depravity of their argument. Seems to be a common tactic of the left, if you can't win the argument with evidence and reason, then call them a racist and shout them down.
  • Objective historical account

    5
    By Praematura
    The book is excels at explaining the crusades from a neutral perspective. Also the author brings to life every aspect of crusading in vivid detail.
  • These negative reviews are from right-wing loons.

    5
    By Cat Atomic
    The subject of the Crusades is of great interest to right-wing racists in the United States, who have spent quite a bit of energy attempting to rewrite-- or at the very least reframe-- history to suit their present-day political priorities. This book is well written, well-researched, and I think, fairly comprhensive.
  • Bad historical perspective

    1
    By TheMacDaddy
    You should question the biases of a book when the description talks about "Christians rampaging through the Muslim world..." I mean it really sets the tone for how this book is written. sensationalized garbage, intellectually lopsided, seemingly biased and it's historical accounts are selective. It was a bad purchase. I bought it hardcopy and regret it. Ive since found better books about the crusades in iBooks. Pass on this book (and possibly its author). There are less expensive, more historically rich books about the crusades.
  • Should be in Fiction

    1
    By A Knight Templar
    The author misses the first 450 years of unchecked Muslim aggression. Ask Charles 'The Hammer' Martel who he was fighting at The Battle of Tours in 725. Christians did not 'seize' Jerusalem from the Muslims - they reclaimed it after being invaded in 1076. Pope Urban II only called for a crusade in 1095 to stop the Muslim invasion. Basic history apparently is as elusive to the author as the facts are.