The Concise History of the Crusades (Critical Issues in World and International History) Paperback – Student Edition, September 19, 2013

Book is aptly titled. It covers a lot of ground addressing the better known 1st through 3rd crusades between Christianity and Islam in the Levant but also referencing Christian vs. Christian conflicts with the Byzantine Empire and crusades against non-Islamic non-Christians in Eastern Europe. The strength of this book as is accurately implied by the title is the ability to clearly communicate interesting information on a wide breadth of history without dragging on for hundreds and hundreds of pages. I highly recommend this as a mid-level introduction for anyone interested in the subject. Reading this as one with only a cursory knowledge of the period among the many things I found interesting were the personal / political conflict within both the Christian and Islamic camps that seriously hindered the ability to effectively fight the other side, the Christian vs. Christian conflicts around Constantinople, the balancing act the Christian kings had to perform between crusading and events back at home, how some of the inducements to motivate people to crusade contributed to later abuses by the Church and subsequent Reformation, the origin of the Templars and Hospitallers, the Children's Crusade, etc.For those who care about such things I would characterize the point of view of the author as objective. Happily you do not get the "Christians as savage invaders vs. Saladin as a Medieval champion of 21st Century multiculturalism and diversity" seen in pieces such as Ridley Scott's film Kingdom of Heaven. That's not to say this book says nothing bad about the Christians involved or that it has nothing good to say about Saladin's leadership skills, I'm just saying I perceived the tone as even-handed.

This book is exactly what the title says it is: a concise history of the crusades. Thomas Madden reviews all of the major crusades in the Middle East and Europe; places them in historical context; examines the motivations for each crusade; fairly portrays the combatants in each war; and dispels misunderstandings about the crusades that have been applied to them in retrospect.This is exactly what I was looking for: a fair, comprehensive, yet concise overview. However, if you want a book that goes into great detail on the battles, this is not it. Madden writes much more on politics and religion than he does the details of warfare.At the time of writing, the Kindle price for this book is ludicrous. But you do get what you pay for, as this book is excellent.

Definitely a well researched book with good attention to details. A good introduction book to the Crusades, although particularly from a European perspective. What the author does well is give a sense that it is very hard for modern people to understand the sheer idiotic fervor of the Middle Ages. I found it difficult to imagine a society so completely devout to their religion that all reason was purposely dismissed...oh, wait,,,that happens today as well. Every day. In your neighborhood.The author states that the crusades were not remembered in the Middle East until recently when Bomba Bone Bimbo declared a holy war leading to the cowardly 9/11 attacks. The crusades were used by him to re-ignite the passion of extremists, successfully as we all know, because of their supernatural susceptibility to BS.But I stray from topic, This book will give you a great insight into the foolishness and dangers of past Christianity ( because of a supernatural susceptibility to BS) in the hands of extremists, and a look at today's news gives insight into the foolishness and dangers of contemporary Islam in the hands of extremists.I was truly impressed by the sheer abandon of what is usually considered normal rational thought, The Children's Crusades really brought this point home. It's amazing any Europeans survived the Middle Ages, as religion was the primary authority.

I realized just how much I enjoyed reading this book when I finally got to the end and felt a twinge of disappointment that I finished the book. I also remember telling my wife to leave me alone just so I can finish a chapter of this fascinating account of the crusades. I'm no historian... calling me even a history buff might be too big an exaggeration. However, with the brouhaha that President Obama's crusades comment caused, I thought I would do some reading just so I can get acquainted with this historical period.First, something must be said about Thomas Madden's writing. I've read some complaints about his writing... calling it boring and hard to keep track of all the people. I beg to differ. I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Madden's writing. The writing kept me turning pages just to see how history would play out. This isn't your average dry history textbook, but an well-written narrative of a fascinating period in history.Some have also complained about Mr. Madden's bias toward the Christian West and against Islam. Whether that is correct or not, I found the narrative to be surprisingly even-handed. Mr. Madden does not gloss over the atrocities committed during the crusades, nor does he paint Islam as the benevolent religion of peace cruelly attacked by Christianity. Throughout the book, I see a clash between two different cultures, both capable of great atrocities. However, going beyond this, Mr. Madden tries to point out the reasons for why things happened the way they did. As a result, the image of blood-thirsty crusaders out for blood, power, wealth and empire disappears because you begin to see the real motivations behind these excursions. Anyone complaining that Mr. Madden is biased just because he tries to point out the motivations of the crusaders and place them within their cultural context is clearly biased in the other direction.I can say that I really enjoyed this book and feel like I know a little bit more than I did about the crusades. Mr. Madden's writing is easy to follow and keeps you turning the page. I can also say that I have no negatives to bring up. I'm not a history expert so I wouldn't know whether Mr. Madden's relating of the facts is completely untrue or not, but I did enjoy reading the book and defer to Mr. Madden in these matters as he is far more the expert than I am. Furthermore, I would encourage the potential reader to pay close attention to the title and realize that this really is a CONCISE history. If you want deeper treatment about any one of the various crusades, look elsewhere. This is simply a general history, albeit and extremely well-written one.

Great book for everyone that wants to learn the real reason for the crusades and not what is typically thought on our educational system . Mr Madden explains very clearly the story of the crusading movement, before it, during the crusades and it's lagacy. Easy to understand and chronologically well mounted.

A Level History Students - Thoroughly Catholic supplement to required reading....it doubles the workload to read recommended the exam board's historians as well - but the Catholic student does well to buckle down and get to the truth of the matter... remember History is sold as facts bound together by opinion - but there is only one truth revealed in the final judgement!

Informative

excellent