A History of the Crusades 3 Volume Paperback Set [Paperback]

Steven Runciman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 25, 1987

Sir Steven Runciman's three volume A History of the Crusades, one of the great classics of English historical writing, is now being reissued. Volume I deals completely with the First Crusade and the foundation of the kingdom of Jerusalem. Volume II describes the Frankish states of Outremer from the accession of King Baldwin I to the re-conquest of Jerusalem by Saladin, and in the final volume, Runciman examines the revival of the Frankish kingdom from the time of the Third Crusade until its collapse a century later. The interwoven themes of the book include: Christiandom, the replacement of the cultured Ayubites by the less sympathetic Mameluks as leader of the Moslem world, and the coming of the Mongols. He includes a chapter on architecture and the arts, and an epilogue on the last manifestations of the Crusading spirit.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'I do not know when, in recent years, I have read a book which so enlarged my knowledge of and interest in a period of history ... It sets before us one of the formidable moral and romantic epics of our time, with scholarship and imagination worthy of it.' The Times Literary Supplement

'The three volumes ring with battle trumpets and drums, glitter with the splendor of noble parades, and are replete with true stories of bravery and cowardliness, rash daring and wily intrigue ... To the specialist [Runciman] offers a wealth of new interpretations ... To the layman, he tenders romance and suspense at nearly every page.' The Yale Review

' ... the best scholarly survey of the subject by a single author. It will always remain the first considerable work of its kind in the English language.' The English Historical Review

'One of the grand historical monuments of the twentieth century ... Written with imagination and based on immense scholarship, [the volumes] are filled with true stories of rash daring and wily intrigue as the flower of Western knighthood assaults the infidel East for God, gold and glory.' Washington Post Book World

Book Description

Sir Steven Runciman's three volume A History of the Crusades, one of the great classics of English historical writing, is now being reissued.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (December 25, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 052135997X
• ISBN-13: 978-0521359979
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 3.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,428,739 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The definitive history of the Crusades, October 3, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: A History of the Crusades 3 Volume Paperback Set (Paperback)

This book, often published as three volumes is the definitive history of the crusades. It is at once a tremendously entertaining and gripping story, and an academically accurate account that stimulates one to further enquiry. His account is so alive it is as if one was reading events unfolding in a newspaper day by day and the destruction of Constantinople was only yesterday.

Runciman tells the story of the West's response to the fall of Jerusalem to the Arabs, and their unexpected success in reconquering it. Throughout the story the Christian west, the Byzantine Empire, and the Arab world are painted with all their good and bad points.

No one comes out of this story without fault, but Runciman points out that there was a tremendous invigoration of western civilization through its contact with the Byzantine and Arab world. The short lived Kingdom of Jerusalem became in a way an experiment in East-West civilization that ultimately was destroyed by the arrival of later crusaders whose enthusiasm for attacking the Arabs (with whom the earlier crusaders had learned to live in relative peace) was not matched by their numbers or competence. Runciman notes that Arab distrust of the West had its roots in this time.

A great introduction to Byzantine, Arabic, or Latin history. See also the work of JJ Norwich on Byzantium and the Normans in Sicily

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You have entered a master's house., August 1, 2003

By 

Tim Johnson (Fremantle, Australia) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A History of the Crusades 3 Volume Paperback Set (Paperback)

I first encountered this extraordinary history back in the early '70s as a medieval student and then again some years ago beyond study and therefore with considerably more money-at least compared to a student-and I was able to purchase this wonderful set.

I freely admit not having read the three volumes cover to cover but have parachuted in to various topics within the span of information covered by the set and I can attest to the brilliance of Runciman's writing. He represents the best of historical writing in that he is the undoubted master of his sources and their subject matter but he can also convey the extraordinary complexity of these centuries in a writing style that is at once understandable and also colourful. To my mind he is the best of the best because, as undoubted master of his subject, he is also able to tease out and convey the human interest, the drama and the wrenching saddness of all that was the Crusades.

Steven Runciman has transcended history as few other historians of any time have been able to do. He has imbued the structure of history with the richness of a night at the opera or theatre-the reader is presented with the panoply of humanness at every turn and I believe this is the true mark of a master's hand.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still the Best History of the Crusades, July 26, 2009

By 

Stuart McCunn (New Haven, CT) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A History of The Crusades, 3 Volume Set: The First Crusade, The Kingdom of Jerusalem, The Kingdom of Acre (Deluxe Folio Society Issue) (Hardcover)

These books were written in the '50s but they're still the best for a general history of the Crusades. Steven Runciman has a real way of explaining events so that they make sense. The first book covers the First Crusade, the second one covers the Kingdom of Jerusalem from it's establishment at the end of the First Crusade to it's destruction just before the Third Crusade, and the final book covers the Third Crusade through the fall of the last of the Crusader states. His interpretation of the personalities involved is still the best available. Some of his details are out of date, and a few of his ideas have been disproved as new data comes to light, but on the whole it has remained accurate. He is primarily a Byzantine history writer which means that he has rather a strong Byzantine slant to it, but this gives him some insight into the motivation of the Emperor Alexius Comnenus which helps make more sense of some subsequent events. The books may be populist but they include a lot of facts, and it's hard to keep track of the names sometimes. Fortunately, with all this information spread out over three books it's less condensed than some of those one volume histories out there. Also, the fact that it doesn't end with the Third or Fourth Crusade and continues on throughout the life of the kingdoms in the Holy Land makes it useful to see how the crusades affected medieval life after the last of the famous crusades. Runciman is a traditionalist unfortunately, so any crusades that take place after the fall of Acre are only briefly covered and the same for crusades outside the Holy Land.

This book is a very nice edition. It comes in a slipcase with the picture of a knight engraved in gold. The books are very well bound and large. This set will take up a lot of room on your shelf.