Advice on Books About The Crusades

[demyansk]

You guys gave great suggestions on a previous post concerning WW1 books.

I was wondering about books on the crusades and what books are good read. So many to choose from.

Thanks.

[JoV]

Largely anything by Jonathan Riley Smith if you are looking at the background of the crusades; where the idea emerged from, why it was so appealing to the contemporary population etc. The Crusades: Idea and Reality, 1095–1274 is typically regarded as one of the definitive texts on the topic.

For military aspects John France is considered to have written the most comprehensive history of the First Crusade as a military venture; Victory in the East.

I would steer clear of Runciman's series. It is very popular but by now heavily dated considering the amount of research that has been done on the topic since. Plus, whilst his books are entertaining, he is also very....creative in his use of sources. There is a lot more out there of course, particularly looking at the crusaders from Byzantine, Arabic perspectives, but the above two authors would be my recommended introduction to the topic.

[Kuokkanen]

Can you recommend me any novels on this topic? Swords woman and other historical adventures by Robert E. Howard doesn't do it for me.

They wore horned helmets and shirts of scale mail

[loki100]

An interesting one that uses Arab sources is Amin Maalouf's The Crusades through Arab Eyes. I've got no background knowledge so no idea as to the validity of his arguments but its an interesting perspective.

He basically argues that the region had a rough and ready set of rules around war/interaction both within the Islamic elements and with the Byzantines and then this terrifyingly different force erupted with a totally different world view and agenda.

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: loki100

An interesting one that uses Arab sources is Amin Maalouf's The Crusades through Arab Eyes. I've got no background knowledge so no idea as to the validity of his arguments but its an interesting perspective.

He basically argues that the region had a rough and ready set of rules around war/interaction both within the Islamic elements and with the Byzantines and then this terrifyingly different force erupted with a totally different world view and agenda.

+1
The Crusades through Arab Eyes was first published in 1985; I don't know how it's held up over the years.

[demyansk]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, very well done,

[76mm]

I would avoid God's War; very little about military topics (oddly enough) and generally just not very interesting.

[Franciscus]

I enjoyed and recomend “The Crusades” by Thomas Abridge.

The book by Amin Malouf is also very interesting.

Regards

[Curtis Lemay]

Lionheart, Sharon Kay Penman. (Historical Novel)

[JoV]

ORIGINAL: loki100

An interesting one that uses Arab sources is Amin Maalouf's The Crusades through Arab Eyes. I've got no background knowledge so no idea as to the validity of his arguments but its an interesting perspective.

He basically argues that the region had a rough and ready set of rules around war/interaction both within the Islamic elements and with the Byzantines and then this terrifyingly different force erupted with a totally different world view and agenda.

I've not read that one, but Carole Hillenbrand has written a great book on Islamist perspectives of Crusadeshttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/157921.The_Crusades

Jonathon Harris wrote an equally good book on Byzantine perspectives https://www.amazon.com/Byzantium-Crusades-Second-Jonathan-Harris/dp/1780938314

[Infierno]

ORIGINAL: 76mm

I would avoid God's War; very little about military topics (oddly enough) and generally just not very interesting.

+1

Very interested to check out Maalouf's book, though.

[SuluSea]

Dr. Bill Warner has a 5 minute video on youtube on the Crusades/Jihad and it's very eye opening when you see the statistics.

Bill Warner, PhD: Jihad vs Crusades

Underneath the video there's also a nice PDF on the battles.

Here are the sources for the battles: http://cspipublishing.com/statistical/c ... esDate.pdf



[demyansk]

Anyone read Sword and Scimitar yet?

[Saint Ruth]

I read "The Templars: The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God's Holy Warriors Book by Dan Jones" and found it very readable. It's really a history of the crusades from the Templars viewpoint, though it doesn't cover the First Crusade as that was before the Templars were formed...