A Brief History of the Crusades

This is, without hyperbole, one of the worst books I have ever read. While it is relatively short at 260 pages, it is an absolute slog. The book is an absolute mess for a number of reasons - interesting facets of the topic are not covered in depth, people are introduced and then disappear at such a rapid pace you don't care about any of them, the language itself is extremely boring and has no flair at all, etc. It reads like the most boring, dry, overly-scholarly work you have ever read. I have read other books in the 'A Brief History of...' series which cover longer timelines than this book does with much greater success in fleshing out all aspects of the topic and making you actually invested in what you are reading. Do not read this book if you are looking to be entertained in any way shape or form. There is nothing wrong with a challenging read, or something more scholarly and less sensational, however, I just can't state strongly enough how boring this was to read. There was nothing redeeming about it and this was a topic I was very eager to look further into before I had picked this book up. Please look elsewhere.