Thomas Asbridge is Lecturer in Early Medieval History at Queen Mary, University of London. An acknowledged expert on the history of the Crusades, he has traveled extensively in the Near East following the route of the First Crusade.
"This lively account of the Crusade looks set to replace Steven
Runciman's classic 1951 account of the expedition as the best
introduction to the subject....Asbridge's book gives exactly the
sort of fast-flowing narrative the story demands. He writes clearly
and vigorously, with a fine eye for telling detail. Having walked
considerable parts of the itinerary the Crusade followed, he
presents a vivid picture of the landscapes they passed through. He
admires the
crusaders' hardiness and extraordinary boldness without condoning
cruelties they inflicted....Recommended to a general reader who
wants an introduction to the Crusades."--Hugh Kennedy, The New
York
Times Book Review
"Asbridge combines fast-paced history writing, evocative prose and
lucid research for a first-rate history of the First
Crusade....Brilliantly re-creates the three-year history of the
First Crusade, chronicling its difficulties and victories, not
downplaying its brutality but emphasizing its genuinely religious
impulse."--Publishers Weekly
"Balances persuasive analysis with a flair for conveying with
dramtic power the crusaders' plight throughout the nine-month siege
of Antioch....Stunning...should revitalize the study of this
fascinating period in European history."--Christopher Silvester,
The Financial Times
"Rousing....Asbridge knows this territory well. In 1999, he even
walked 350 miles of the crusaders' route."--Christian Science
Monitor
"Asbridge, in keeping with his aim to produce a popular history,
writes with maximum vividness."--Joan Acocella, The New Yorker
"Asbridge has produced a taut, clear and exciting narrative, which
also manages to convey the best of modern Crusader
scholarship....His pace is tremendous, and he has a remarkable feel
of place. It certainly helps that, like so many Crusaders nine
centuries ago, Asbridge has himself walked 350 miles from Antioch
towards Jerusalem."--The Guardian
"Although well researched, the book wears its scholarship lightly
and reads like a work of fiction, complete with vivid
characters."--The Herald (Glasgow)
"Asbridge achieves vivid characterization and gripping storytelling
without sacrifice of scholarship. Interweaving analysis, narrative,
evocative description and occasional wry humor, he tells us--as no
other book on the subject really does--who the crusaders were, how
they behaved, how they killed and died and, most surprisingly of
all, how they survived and triumphed."--Felipe Fernández-Armesto,
author of Millennium and Civilizations
"There is an underlying assumption among commentators looking at
the confrontation between Islam and the West that it has been
engendered by the events of September 11, 2001. Thomas Asbridge, by
tracing the roots to the First Crusade in his lucid and provocative
'new history,' helps us to understand the present by explaining the
past."--Akbar S. Ahmed, Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies
American University
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