List Price: $19.99

Save: $3.60 (18%)

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime

FREE delivery: Sunday, March 14 on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon. Details

Fastest delivery: Tuesday, March 9
Order within 3 hrs and 52 mins Details

In Stock.

Ships from	Amazon.com
Sold by	Amazon.com

Details

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

FREE Shipping on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon or get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime

FREE delivery: April 15 - 17 on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon. Details

Fastest delivery: April 9 - 12

Select delivery location

Used: Good | Details

Sold by American Owned DVDs, CDs, and Books

Fulfilled by Amazon

Add to List

Added to

Unable to add item to List. Please try again.

Share <Embed>

Other Sellers on Amazon

$16.99
+ Free Shipping

Sold by: Fifty Third Street Books

$14.19
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: Ambis Enterprises

$20.35
+ Free Shipping

Sold by: Publisher Direct

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 3 images

Follow the Author

Thomas Asbridge

The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land Paperback – March 8, 2011

by Thomas Asbridge (Author)

646 ratings

See all formats and editions Hide other formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$14.99

—

Audible Audiobook, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$0.00

Free with your Audible trial

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$54.43

$150.23

$30.97

Paperback

"Please retry"

$16.39

$13.67

$9.29

MP3 CD, Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$42.66

$36.39

—

The Crusades is an authoritative, accessible single-volume history of the brutal struggle for the Holy Land in the Middle Ages. Thomas Asbridge—a renowned historian who writes with “maximum vividness” (Joan Acocella, The New Yorker)—covers the years 1095 to 1291 in this big, ambitious, readable account of one of the most fascinating periods in history. From Richard the Lionheart to the mighty Saladin, from the emperors of Byzantium to the Knights Templar, Asbridge’s book is a magnificent epic of Holy War between the Christian and Islamic worlds, full of adventure, intrigue, and sweeping grandeur.

Print length

784 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Ecco
Publication date

March 8, 2011
Dimensions

5.31 x 1.26 x 8 inches
See all details

Frequently bought together

Total price: $54.62

Buy the selected items together

This item:The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land by Thomas Asbridge Paperback $16.39
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
FREE Shipping on orders over $25.00. Details
The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome by Susan Wise Bauer Hardcover $22.94
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
FREE Shipping on orders over $25.00. Details
SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard Paperback $15.29
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
FREE Shipping on orders over $25.00. Details

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

Products related to this item

Sponsored
Hide feedback

Page 1 of 1Start overPage 1 of 1

Special offers and product promotions

Amazon Business : For business-only pricing, quantity discounts and FREE Shipping. Register a free business account

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Brilliant, authoritative, and accessible, Thomas Asbridge’s THE CRUSADES is a must read. Asbridge balances impeccable scholarship with a gifted storyteller’s engaging voice. He vividly portrays the driving forces and personalities, the perspectives of Christians and Muslims, and the legacy of the Crusades in Christian and Muslim history and imagination.” -- Professor John L. Esposito, Director of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University, and author of The Future of Islam.

“A truly comprehensive history of holy war in the Holy Land. Emphasizing the dramatic Third Crusade and its heroic antagonists, Richard the Lionheart and Saladin, the narrative reads like an adventure story, albeit one that is both factual and instructive.” -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

From the Back Cover

From a renowned historian who writes with "maximum vividness" (The New Yorker) comes the most authoritative, readable single-volume 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 fought for dominion of the Holy Land, clashing in a succession of chillingly brutal wars: the Crusades. Here for the first time is the story of that epic struggle told from the perspective of both Christians and Muslims. A vivid and fast-paced narrative history, it exposes the full horror, passion, and barbaric grandeur of the Crusading era, revealing how these holy wars reshaped the medieval world and why they continue to influence events today.

ASIN : 0060787295
Publisher : Ecco; Reprint edition (March 8, 2011)
Language : English
Paperback : 784 pages
Item Weight : 1.38 pounds
Dimensions : 5.31 x 1.26 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #24,851 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4 in History of Islam
- #7 in Prehistory
- #17 in Israel & Palestine History (Books)

Customer Reviews:
646 ratings

Products related to this item

Sponsored
Hide feedback

Page 1 of 1Start overPage 1 of 1

Customer reviews

5 star		65%
4 star		23%
3 star		8%
2 star		2%
1 star		2%

How are ratings calculated?

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

tonitaylor

Authoritative by whose standard?

Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2018

Verified Purchase

I could only make it through the 3rd chapter before it went into the trash. Asbridge begins his history in 1095, yet it really begins with the history of Abraham and God's promised land to Abraham and his descendants. Muhammad came after Christ approx 600 yrs later, with his war against the infidels. I could tell where his writing would take me... the Christians are the cause of where we are in the world today in regards to Islamic relations. If I could I would not have even given this book 1 star.

53 people found this helpful

Helpful

The most important thing is telling the story within its prior 400 year perspective.

Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2018

Verified Purchase

I started this history coming hot off an extraordinarily deep dive of the dark ages ending in the 10th century. The common sources from both sides are not new ... the book written 100 years ago would read the sources the same. The shortcoming is in a failure to adequately link the prior 400 years of Muslims vs all neighbors East and West.

The Crusade period must be approached with an understanding that there not a hint of modern geographic states to be related. The super powers of the age are Austrasia, Neustria, Teutons, the Eastern Empire, Mongols and 400 years of nearly invincible Muslims conquest. The author refers mostly to France, England and Germany.

The West is never unified in any practical way. The Crusader's were self funding. There was never a central command but literally dozens of part time and largely daft princes. Crusaders were motivated by personal, not collective redemption. Once redeemed in a month or year, hordes went home. A vast, reasonably unified geographic Caliphate rules Islam centrally commanded by 3 absolute Sultans. Islamic fighters were motivated by Muslim's Caliphate objective. Nothing personal.

The West was as close to not existing in the generations of 850-950 as precipitously as at any time since Salamis. Xtianity was a long shot fragment of it's former Charlemagne Holy Roman expansion. It’s future was TBD from out of the heretically saturated West. It’s fair to say that the single most important invention of 400 years of Dark Age was the stone walled castle and the great castle is the Crusader remains. It’s from Foulque (Falka) Nerra’s excellence in castle building that this story emerges. He would just happen to be devout to the pope.

It is an intentional historical revision to overlook 400 years of Muslim conquest before the Crusade Era counterattack. The author claims that there was no clear and present danger. It's just not possible to overlook the West's loss of Med free trade to Muslim state pirates, raiders, slavers, Greek Black Sea conquests, Italian boot wars and Adriatic adventurism. Iberia remained in deep and indeterminate Muslim war.

In the conclusion the author makes passing comment that the West would fight Islamic invasion into Europe for another 400 years and only stopped at the gates of Vienna.

This is the fault of this book is 21st century revisionism.

So, get past the introduction and conclusions … deep dive the names and places and enjoy the telling. It’s simply Islamic biased IMHO. The Levant and Jerusalem was seemingly irrelevant as Islam did not note the 1st Crusade. I do wish historians would redeploy the truth.

53 people found this helpful

Helpful

Kindle Customer

Focused on the early Crusades, lacks depth in the latter stages

Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2017

Verified Purchase

Entertaining popular history but has some shortcomings that deprived it of a star. The first 500 pages or so cover the first three Crusades. This is where the book really excels. It goes into great detail about these Crusades, not just the military movements but the political, social and religious factors and personalities that influenced the events. And it pays attention to both sides of the conflicts in a fair and even-handed way. If it had continued on in this fashion, it would have rated 4 to 4.5 stars but unfortunately the later Crusades and collateral conflicts aren't dealt with in the same way. The Fourth Crusade gets a few pages, the anti-heretic "Crusades" in Europe are brushed off in a paragraph or two, interesting side tales like the Children's Crusade get a sentence. The short treatment of some of these topics also derails some of the author's sweeping pronouncements. For example, he mentions several times that Pope Gregory (I forget which one) had an outsize impact on crusading and changed the way it was viewed, but after one or two pages of hearing about how this Pope would change the historic nature of the Crusades, we are told that he died before his envisioned crusade was even launched. Similar sweeping pronouncements are made about other people and events without the details to back these claims up. It reads as if the author wanted to write a comprehensive one-volume history but realized that the book would run too long so he cut the second half to make it fit.

85 people found this helpful

Helpful

Rives M. Duncan

Outstanding

Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2017

Verified Purchase

This book is, as it's subtitle says, is THE authoritative history. It is thoroughly researched and documented. As ridge does an excellent job of taking an immense field of knowledge and relating it in a way that is very readable, extremely thorough, and keenly analytical. He goes well beyond merely relating the raw facts. He weaves a narrative that includes background information about what was going on behind the battlefields and between the crusades themselves. He eschews the simplistic views of villains and victors and shows the major characters as human beings with strengths and weaknesses, with virtues and vices.
Asbridge also avoids a binary "Crusaders vs Muslims" caricature. He shows that both sides struggled with multinational intrigue and interior machinations. He includes forces that are outside the "two" major players in the arena.
As I read, I was constantly thinking of parallels in current events. Leaders who do well in some arenas but fail in others. Popular generals who meet natural forces that overwhelm their skills. The challenge of juggling logistics, tactics, strategy, morale, health, weather, popular opinion, regal and papal pressure, and more are clearly set before the reader.
This work appealed to both me (a PhD) and my brother-in-law who is a high school graduate. This speaks to the readable scholarship that Asbridge offers. Her illuminates history in a way that makes clear the shadows that it casts on today. He offers, to all who are willing to read this, an antidote to the poisons that are concocted by those who would manipulate distorted views of the past to empower warping of current events. If you want one work that will answer the question, "What were the Crusades about?," then this is it.

54 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English

Tom Woroby

Politically, things haven't changed that much

Reviewed in Canada on August 16, 2018

Verified Purchase

An excellent companion book to "The Crusades through Arab Eyes" by Amin Maalouf....
Two sides to the story, and an "eye-opener" to the atrocities (common at that time), and the fact that, politically, the Arab world has not changed much in over 1000 years.
Wish they would just grow up and dump the hatred!

7 people found this helpful

Mahtab

Empfehlenswert

Reviewed in Germany on March 2, 2019

Verified Purchase

Habe das Buch als historische Backgroundinfo zu Lessings Nathan und der Saladinbiographie Marins von 1754 gegengelesen. Ist jetzt nicht grad ein Geschichtsschmöker, den man verschlingt, aber für eine Darstellung aller Kreuzzüge sehr gut lesbar, hat auch durchaus Nachschlagewert. Und es ist doch interessant, wie sich im Laufe der Zeit die Sichtweise auf bekannte Teilnehmer der Kreuzzüge geändert hat. Eindringlich und gelungen ist die Darstellung Balduins IV., die mich angerührt hat. Man bekommt Lust, vertiefend zu einzelnen Kreuzzügen oder Persönlichkeiten zu lesen und sich die Schauplätze anzusehen. Seufz.

One person found this helpful

Translate review to English

Kerry Kaminski

A well written history of an important era.

Reviewed in Canada on May 11, 2017

Verified Purchase

This is an impressive book. This book is never boring and it seems that every chapter would make a good movie. It is amazing, too, how much detailed history seems to have survived from this era. The history of the crusades is both tragic and interesting and worth knowing to help understand Western history.

3 people found this helpful

Hanno Uittenbogaard

comprehensive but not unbiased

Reviewed in the Netherlands on July 26, 2018

Verified Purchase

This very comprehensive body of work is elegantly written and a true page turner. Asbridge claims to take a neutral stand and discusses both Christian and Muslim perspectives on the history of the wars over the Holy Land.
Popular view holds that the Crusaders were bands of thugs and thieves looking for loot and land. The author goes at great length to prove that this view must be discarded. The costs of going on a crusade, of "taking the Cross" were immense and not few knights had to mortgage their possessions to participate. It woud have been easier and more profitable just to stay home. Asbridge holds that the Crusaders foremost drive to take up the Cross was religious fervor. This however leaves the savage conquest and sack of Constsantinopel during the fourth crusade unaccounted for. Asbridges chapter, or rather paragraph, on this issue is conveniently brief.
A sense of dissatisfaction remains at the conclusion of this book. Christians and Muslims alike seized the Holy Land by force of arms, committing unspeakable atrocities and violently subduing the people who had settled there peacefully, Muslims, Jews and Christians. Regardless of your position, one cannot deny that the Crusades were deplorable acts of violence and agression. You cannot make a crime less of a crime simply by establishing that you are not the only one committing it.

anonymous

Worth a read

Reviewed in India on December 10, 2017

Verified Purchase

It is a very detailed and informative book. However it is not an entirely objective account. There seems to be a pro-western/Christian bias towards the last part of the book., when he tries to put in today's context.

One person found this helpful

See all reviews

Customers who bought this item also bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

Susan Wise Bauer
690
Hardcover
$22.94
William Manchester
729
Paperback
$16.39
Laurence Bergreen
976
Paperback
$18.99
Mary Beard
3,347
Paperback
$15.29
Jack Weatherford
2,398
Paperback
in Historical China Biographies
$14.52
Susan Wise Bauer
325
Hardcover
$21.66

Pages with related products. See and discover other items: early middle ages, early modern europe, europe history, european history, medieval europe books

Other Sellers on Amazon

Follow the Author

Similar authors to follow

The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land Paperback – March 8, 2011

Frequently bought together

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Products related to this item

Sponsored
Hide feedback

Special offers and product promotions

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the Back Cover

About the Author

Product details

Videos for this product

The 10 Best Middle East History Books

Videos for this product

The 10 Best War History Books

Products related to this item

Sponsored
Hide feedback

Customer reviews

Customer images

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries

Customers who bought this item also bought

Buy new: $16.39 FREE delivery: Sunday, March 14 on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon. Ships from: Amazon.com Sold by: Amazon.com

Buy used: $15.48

Sorry, there was a problem.

Sorry, there was a problem.

Other Sellers on Amazon

Follow the Author

Similar authors to follow

The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land Paperback – March 8, 2011

Frequently bought together

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Special offers and product promotions

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the Back Cover

About the Author

Product details

Videos

Videos for this product

Videos for this product

Customer reviews

Customer images

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries

Customers who bought this item also bought

Buy new:

$16.39

FREE delivery: Sunday, March 14 on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon.

Ships from: Amazon.com

Sold by: Amazon.com

Buy used:

$15.48