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The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land, by Thomas Asbridge
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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.
Product details
Paperback: 784 pages
Publisher: Ecco; Reprint edition (March 8, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0060787295
ISBN-13: 978-0060787295
Product Dimensions:
5.3 x 1.3 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review:
4.4 out of 5 stars
365 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#30,029 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Entertaining popular history but has some shortcomings that deprived it of a star. The first 500 pages or so cover the first three Crusades. This is where the book really excels. It goes into great detail about these Crusades, not just the military movements but the political, social and religious factors and personalities that influenced the events. And it pays attention to both sides of the conflicts in a fair and even-handed way. If it had continued on in this fashion, it would have rated 4 to 4.5 stars but unfortunately the later Crusades and collateral conflicts aren't dealt with in the same way. The Fourth Crusade gets a few pages, the anti-heretic "Crusades" in Europe are brushed off in a paragraph or two, interesting side tales like the Children's Crusade get a sentence. The short treatment of some of these topics also derails some of the author's sweeping pronouncements. For example, he mentions several times that Pope Gregory (I forget which one) had an outsize impact on crusading and changed the way it was viewed, but after one or two pages of hearing about how this Pope would change the historic nature of the Crusades, we are told that he died before his envisioned crusade was even launched. Similar sweeping pronouncements are made about other people and events without the details to back these claims up. It reads as if the author wanted to write a comprehensive one-volume history but realized that the book would run too long so he cut the second half to make it fit.
This book is, as it's subtitle says, is THE authoritative history. It is thoroughly researched and documented. As ridge does an excellent job of taking an immense field of knowledge and relating it in a way that is very readable, extremely thorough, and keenly analytical. He goes well beyond merely relating the raw facts. He weaves a narrative that includes background information about what was going on behind the battlefields and between the crusades themselves. He eschews the simplistic views of villains and victors and shows the major characters as human beings with strengths and weaknesses, with virtues and vices.Asbridge also avoids a binary "Crusaders vs Muslims" caricature. He shows that both sides struggled with multinational intrigue and interior machinations. He includes forces that are outside the "two" major players in the arena.As I read, I was constantly thinking of parallels in current events. Leaders who do well in some arenas but fail in others. Popular generals who meet natural forces that overwhelm their skills. The challenge of juggling logistics, tactics, strategy, morale, health, weather, popular opinion, regal and papal pressure, and more are clearly set before the reader.This work appealed to both me (a PhD) and my brother-in-law who is a high school graduate. This speaks to the readable scholarship that Asbridge offers. Her illuminates history in a way that makes clear the shadows that it casts on today. He offers, to all who are willing to read this, an antidote to the poisons that are concocted by those who would manipulate distorted views of the past to empower warping of current events. If you want one work that will answer the question, "What were the Crusades about?," then this is it.
A good, readable history of The Crusades has escaped me to this point, for whatever reason. I was very excited when Tynerman's God's War was released a few years ago, and quickly became disenchanted when I tried slogging through it and realized what a boringly-written brick it was. Couldn't finish it. Runciman's classic volumes, which have been the definitive essential reading for half a century now, are still valid, entertaining reads but have been long since over-taken by newer evidence and much fresher, more-encompassing interpretations. As a read, they're still great fun. As good history, they're quite biased and lacking today.So, when I saw a shiny new tome promising a complete revisiting of long-held assumptions, I couldn't resist. Asbridge's chronology is straightforward; starting with a quick survey of Islam's rise and subsequent takeover of the Christian Holy Land, he moves to Europe to set the scene of the medieval papacy and nascent western kingships that would bring about the concept of Crusading. In a nice touch, he continues to revisit the contemporary meanings, definitions and assumptions behind crusading as it developed from an event without even a name ("crusading" was a later appellation) to the currently-understood form. From these basics, he moves us through each of the main five Crusades, deftly describing the expected peoples, places, and battles. He strikes a good balance between talking about the most important figures and key battles versus the less-glamorous but as-important topics such as trade and societal makeup that, while harder to make exciting, are very important when trying to gain a full understanding of the events.Very crucially, he spends as much time covering the Arab viewpoint as he does the Christian. He also properly gives notice to the fact that, while western sources are fairly voluminous by the standards of the era, the Crusades just didn't have a major impact on the Muslim world at the time, and therefore sources from the Muslim POV are much less available. That said, he does an admirable job of situating the reader as best he can in the Muslim frame of mind during each crusade, giving admirable detail on outside pressures that might've existed, any internal dynastic or civil events that had bearing on their interactions with the Crusaders... other histories I've read of this era often fall flat in this particular regard.He closes with an excellent overview of how the Crusades have themselves been viewed throughout history, both in the West and in the Muslim World; this may have been my favorite part of the book as it's not a topic I've ever seen covered before, much less so well.The writing style is nice and lively as well. It reads almost like a strong historical fiction narrative, a testament not only to the author's skill but to the inherent drama of the period.BOTTOM LINE: This will be my only answer for anyone asking for a recommendation on the period for probably years to come.
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