The Crusades
“This lengthy audio history…[is] rewarding on a number of levels. Derek Perkins is, as always, a matchless narrator. One could relish this production entirely for the music of his pronunciation. Asbridge is a skilled storyteller, and each successive turn of events will command listener interest, even as all the previous campaigns and waves of battle blur in the mind. This is an epic tale, a history of the waxing and waning of medieval chivalry, and an advance staging for today’s wars for religion and territory in the Middle East. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
AudioFile
Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award
Narrated by Derek Perkins
From a renowned historian who writes with "maximum vividness" (The New Yorker) comes the most authoritative, readable single-volume military history of the brutal struggle for the Holy Land.
Nine hundred years ago, a vast Christian army, summoned to holy war by the Pope, rampaged through the Muslim world of the eastern Mediterranean, seizing possession of Jerusalem, a city revered by both faiths. Over the two hundred years that followed, Islam and Christianity—both firm in the belief that they were at God's work—fought for dominion of the Holy Land, clashing in a succession of chillingly brutal wars.
For the first time, this book tells the story of that epic struggle from the perspective of both Christians and Muslims. A vivid and fast-paced narrative history of the Crusades, it exposes the full horror, passion, and barbaric grandeur of the Crusading era, leading us into a world of legendary champions—such as Richard the Lionheart and Saladin—shadowy Assassins, poet-warriors, and pious visionaries; across the desert sands of Egypt to the verdant forests of Lebanon; and through the ancient cities of Constantinople, Cairo, and Damascus.
Drawing on painstaking original research and an intimate knowledge of the history of the Near East, Thomas Asbridge uncovers what drove Muslims and Christians alike to embrace the ideals of jihad and crusade, revealing how these holy wars of medieval history reshaped the world and why they continue to influence events today.
Praise