The Crusades: A History - Tapa dura

"'When it was first published in 1987, Jonathan Riley-Smith's The Crusades was acclaimed as the most comprehensive and authoritative survey of the crusading movement written by a British historian. This new edition includes numerous revisions and additions which bring his treatment of the subject up to date. The book is written with verve and insight, and will give this excellent text a fresh lease of life.' -- Professor Norman Housley, University of Leicester '[Riley-Smith] presents the most comprehensive and up-to-date discussion of the crusading phenomenon in all its manifestations. [This] is the first scholarly history of the crusades that attempts to delineate the major perceptions of crusading in modern times from Sir Walter Scott to Osama bin Laden.' -- Prof. Benjamin Z. Kedar, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 'Everything is here: the crusades to the Holy Land, and against the Albigensians, the Moors, the pagans in Eastern Europe, the Turks, and the enemies of the popes. Riley Smith writes a beautiful, lucid prose,... (and his book) is packed with facts and action.' -- Choice 'A concise, clearly written synthesis... by one of the leading historians of the crusading movement.' - Robert S. Gottfried, Historian 'A lively and flowing narrative (with) an enormous cast of characters that is not a mere catalog but a history.... A remarkable achievement.'-Thomas E. Morrissey, Church History

A fully revised and updated second edition of this exemplary and authoritative account of the history of the Crusades The Crusades: A History is a comprehensive, single-volume history of the Crusades, from their beginnings in the eleventh century through to their decline and eventual ending at the close of the eighteenth century. As well as providing an account of the major Crusades, the book describes the organization of a Crusade, the experience of crusading and the Crusaders themselves. In this fully revised second edition, which includes a new preface and afterword, Jonathan Riley-Smith takes into account recent developments in the field and examines how the Crusades' endeavour has been perceived in different periods, from the Romantics to the Islamic world today. The book concludes with a challenge to a historiographical tradition that has often been fraught and in which priorities now seem to be changing. This fully-updated and fascinating book remains the standard and authoritative account of the history of the Crusades.