The Crusades: A History

The previous reviewer is far more interetested in anti-Catholic bigotry than in the current state of historical scholarship on the Crusades. Dr. Riley-Smith's book is up to date while the previous work of Runciman (and others) is considered passe by the professional historian. Unfortunately, people with an axe to grind rarely are interested in the facts when their cherished preconceptions are in jeopardy.Dr. Riley-Smith's book covers not only the medieval Crusades but also other religious wars in the later historic times. He demonstrates the complex motivations of the major figures in these various conflicts and shows that their primary concern had been religious, not economic or imperialistic. There is no "cover up" of some of the darker aspects of the Crusades, but Riley-Smith has a better understanding of the 'sitz im leben' of the Medieval world than many previous writers on this subject. Dr. Riley Smith is careful not to judge people from another time by modern standards. He dispels a number of myths that men like Runciman have unfortunately perpetuated.This is an excellent review book for the general topic of religious wars since the Middle Ages. For more information, see these books:The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades The First Crusade and the Idea of Crusading (Middle Ages Series)The First Crusaders, 1095-1131 What Were the Crusades? (Forthcoming)The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 4, c. 1024 - c. 1198, Part 1 (Forthcoming)

The previous reviewer (Jarvis) dismisses this book as a text. I beg to disagree. For the serious reader of history this is undoubtedly a useful reference work, but I read the book as someone who dabbles a toe in the military history of different ages. I found this to be an accessible and informative work. It is a history, not a novel, and as a history it delivers a good meaty narrative backed up with in-depth analysis of events. Although it is called a concise history the book is by no means a concise work. It spans a period of hundreds of years of history and examines crusades that I never knew were crusades and some I never knew existed. I hadn't realised that the war in Spain between Christian and Moorish kings had achieved official papal crusade standard, and I was unaware of the crusades that were fought along the German borders throughout the period. I recommend this book to anyone who has a thirst for information on this period, drink deep from this well and be satisfied. This is one of those rare books that crosses the line between textbook and non-fiction.