The Crucible of War: A History of the Crusades

In the 11th century, at the pope's call, a vast Christian army stormed into the Islamic world of the eastern Mediterranean and seized Jerusalem, a holy city revered by both faiths. For more than 200 years after the First Crusade, the Islamic world and the West fought for control of the Holy Land, each side convinced it was serving its own God.

The book describes in detail the military aspects of the various Crusades. Author Thomas Asbridge also offers a comprehensive analysis of the conflict, spanning more than two centuries, through its political, social, and religious motivations and the people involved. In particular, he tells this epic struggle from the perspectives of both Christians and Muslims, something no previous history of the Crusades has done.

Through the author's passionate storytelling, we are drawn into a world filled with legendary heroes. Yet he does not shy away from exposing the appalling violence and slaughter that pervaded the era, or from examining how later generations have distorted and exploited its history.