This book is an interesting and ambitious concept, aiming to present Latin Christian, Muslim and Byzantine voices from the Crusades and, to quote the editors, to allow readers to determine for themselves how such events were interpreted and understood by the participants. A number of these extracts have appeared elsewhere, but often in specifically Crusading or Muslim-centred collections; to bring ... Read morethem together is a sensible move. The excerpts of primary source text are introducted by brief scene-setting comments and the entire collection is prefaced by a thoughtful and tersely argued summary of modern views of the Crusades. It also includes something usually ignored in textbooks - an excellent outline of Christian-Muslim conflict before the Crusades.
Jonathan Phillips, Times Higher Education
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