The Real History Behind the Templars [Paperback]

Sharan Newman (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Viking / Penguin (2008)
• ASIN: 0670072249
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent and Very Readable History of A Very Complex Subject, February 13, 2008

By 

H. Fuller (Arlington, VA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Real History Behind the Templars (Paperback)

What with The DaVinci Code and all, the poor old Templars have more fallacies spread around about them than just about any other group of which I can think. Ms. Newman does a wonderful job of describing the situation behind the founding, the life, and the death of the Poor Knights of Christ of the Temple of Solomon, the Templars. She takes a terribly complex subject and subdivides it into manageable portions with the inter-relationships denoted in bold-faced type. This makes her history accessible to a reasonably educated reader who may not have a degree in Medieval History. I found her work to be very accurate if, at times, a bit flip and very easy to follow.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sharan writes so engagingly, even in her non-fiction, August 2, 2009

By 

Jane Q. Sokolow (Oakland, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Real History Behind the Templars (Paperback)

I have read many of Sharan Newman's historical novels and love her engaging style, vivid characters, and sturdily researched history. Still, I hesitated at buying a nonfiction work, worrying that it might be a bit to dully academic. Not to worry. Sharan Newman's nonfiction reads as engagingly as her fiction. She uses an interesting technique of addressing the various aspects of the subject in separate chapters, so you don't really follow a timeline (although she uses many aids for you to keep track of the sequence of events), but are allowed to view the subject from various viewpoints.

I love her statements in the beginning about her footnotes. She allows that they're necessary if readers want to check up on her facts or pursue further lines of inquiry. But she also suggests that if you're just reading her work for pleasure and your own edification, you can just trust her and zip through. How refreshing! I do admit to reading quite a few of the notes (the ones in languages I know, that is), but only because they fleshed out some point or other.

I had read - and enjoyed - Holy Blood Holy Grail (by Baigent, Leigh, & Lincoln) years ago, but didn't get caught up in the Da Vinci Code, because it stuck me it was covering pretty much the same material. Sharan Newman's book soundly tromps on both of those books without being overly negative. I'm so glad I read this book, because it enriches my reading of other novels placed around this time, such as Bernard Cornwell's Grail Quest Series.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Facts instead of Fiction, June 11, 2008

By 

M. Lay (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Real History Behind the Templars (Paperback)

Provides details and facts behind the individuals and organizations associated with the Templars. Facts are footnoted to original sources, not other fiction, and give the reader a greater understanding of the Templars and the distorted conspiracy myths surrounding the order.