New Concise History of the Crusades

This book is great for beginners. The writing is smooth and lively, and the author doesn't overwhelm you with too much useless information. Once you're done with this book, if you're interested, you should move on to the books by Jonathan Riley-Smith (we're using them at school). His books contain more information but they are more difficult; I would not recommend them for beginners. You should start with this. Both Thomas Madden and Jonathan Riley-Smith take a refreshingly balanced approach. They do not paint the Crusades and Imperialism with the same brush, as if the crusaders were just a bunch of greedy European Christians out to plunder innocent Muslim lands. This is currently the popular view; but it confuses the greed of secular imperialists with the piety of devout crusaders. Furthermore, it assumes that Islam spread throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Southern Spain 'innocently.' Instead, the Crusades were armed pilgrimages to the holy land with three main objectives: a) to come to the aid of Eastern Christians who were under threat by Muslim forces, b) to recapture some of the territory which was recently conquered by Muslim forces, and c) to improve relations with the Eastern Church. Unfortunately, the Crusades eventually failed in all three of these areas. Once a crusade was launched it was difficult to control, and too many atrocities took place along the way. Two common examples of such atrocities are the massacring of Jews in Germany during the First Crusade, and the sacking of the city of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade. Nevertheless, these atrocities were never the initial intentions of the Crusades. Thomas Madden explains all of this in a very fair way. He neither shies away from the ugliness of these atrocities nor uses them to justify an anti-Catholic/pro-secular rant. A breath of fresh air.

Although it delivered on the promise of being concise, unlike most abbreviated accounts covering such a large expanse of history, Madden packs an amazing amount of information in his book while fully covering the subject and at the same time writing with a style that makes it a real page-turner. Best of all, unlike so much other garbage being turned out by academic historians today, Madden never lowers himself into the sewer of political correctness. The final chapter on the legacy of the crusades was up-to-date and insightful. This book would make a great supplemental text for any world history class.

I just finished reading Thomas Madden's "A New Concise History of the Crusades". I have recently become an interested student of the Crusades, and this is the third book I have read on the topic. The book gave me thorough overview of the various Crusades, when they occurred, and who the major players were. I think the word concise is very appropriate, as Prof. Madden covers all the Crusades to the Middle East and Africa, from the first in 1096 to the seventh in 1270, as well as several other Crusades within Europe in 225 pages. I think a reader interested in discovering the basics regarding the Crusades would do well to read this book as a starting point to other studies. Madden's select bibliography offers a considerable number of resources for further study, and he offers helpful comments on each of the resources cited. I was particularly interested in the author's approach regarding the various myths surrounding the Crusades, although I would have liked to see his points developed a little more fully. Those arguments are apparently beyond the scope of this work, and will require further investigation through the sources he cited. In summary however, I found the book enjoyable and it has piqued my interest in further study of the topic.

For once, here is an author who is not scared of writing a good and well balanced book about the crusades. The author is trying to make us understand both side of the issues, he is very fair and allow us to make our own decisions about the truth behind the motives of each sides. This book is full of great information, has great details and tells us a great deal about the mentality of each participant, should it be the European nobles, the clergy, Popes, knights or muslims, their leaders and followers. If you are an history buff like me you will really enjoy this book. Easy to read and understand. If you are not an apologist and have an open mind you will enjoy Thomas F. Madden's great work.

The author of this book is the most distinguished historian of the crusades in the U.S. I worried, though, that his erudition would make the book overly complex and unreadable. I shouldn't have worried! This book is a joy to read. Madden brings out the tension, excitement, and human drama of the crusades. Best of all, it is not the usual rehash of tired cliches, but instead the story is based on the best and most recent research. This is that rare book that appeals not only to professional historians, but also to interested general readers as well. If you want to know the truth about the crusades, grab this book!