The New Concise History of the Crusades

The New Concise History of the Crusades
Average customer rating:

Gained a perspective

Understand the Crusades from a Medieval Mindset

not objective

An easy introduction

Lots of information in a small form factor

The New Concise History of the Crusades
Thomas F. Madden
Manufacturer: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0742538222

Book Description

How have the crusades contributed to Islamist rage and terrorism today? Were the crusades the Christian equivalent of modern jihad? In this sweeping yet crisp history, Thomas F. Madden offers a brilliant and compelling narrative of the crusades and their contemporary relevance. Placing all the major crusades within their medieval social, economic, religious, and intellectual environments, Madden explores the uniquely medieval world that led untold thousands to leave their homes, family, and friends to march in Christ's name to distant lands. From Palestine and Europe's farthest reaches, each crusade is recounted in clear, concise narrative. The author gives special attention as well to the crusades' effects on the Islamic world and the Christian Byzantine East.

Customer Reviews:

Gained a perspective.......2007-05-26

This was the first book I ever read about the Crusades. I felt I needed some historical background for the Christian-Muslim tension that we see all around the world today. This book presented the subject in an unbias way that left me feeling I could draw some informed opinions on the subject. To be frank, some of my conclusions were not what I expected them to be prior to reading the book. I am not a good reader. It is a struggle for me to get through a book. I looked forward to reading this book every evening until I finished. It left me wanting to learn more about the subject. One last thing...it is only 225 pages and I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in the subject.

Understand the Crusades from a Medieval Mindset.......2007-03-24

Following September 11th, 2001 and George W. Bush's idiotic claim that the war in Iraq was a "crusade", Westerners looked to the past to make sense of what is currently happening in the world; a clash of East and West. Most, if not all, books on the Crusades take a liberal enlightenment stance of attacking the West and portraying the Crusaders as warmongerers who were only interested in their personal wealth and power. The reason for this outlook is because those books were influenced by authors and research done during the Imperial Age of both Europe and America which had overtones of the West imposing it's will onto the East which authors compared to the Crusades.

Madden's book takes a very balanced and scholarly approach to the Crusades; instead of adding on to the list of historically and socially flawed texts about the subject, he shows in a very simple and easy to understand way the mind set of both Medieval Europe and Islam. By doing this he doesn't fall victim to trying to explain the purpose of the Crusades using the modern secular mindset but the pious devotion to God found in both Christian and Muslim camps which makes understanding them easier. Once the reader is acquainted with the Medieval world, Madden does take an unbiased secular approach to what the Crusades were and the impact, if any, they have on current state of affairs.

With a little over 200 DETAILED pages Madden does a thorough job explaining the finer points of the Crusade without overbearing the reader with a list of dates and endless family genealogies. I highly recommend this book to those who are looking for an introduction into the complex subject of the Crusades or just to get a concise overview of what they were about without ploughing through thousands of pages of other texts. This is my second book on the Crusades, James Reston's Jr's "Warrior's of God" being the first (it's a closer look at Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in the Third Crusade; Reston, like others in the past, is biased towards the East/Islam, but only in the introduction of the end of the 2nd Crusade, the bias surprisingly disappears after that, great book highly recommend it).

One thing you'll definitely get from this book is that the Crusades were not black and white, good vs. evil, West vs. Islam; too many factors are involved to make it so. Get the book and learn that whatever you may see in the media about what is happening in the world today has some sort of agenda.

Next up: Runciman's 3 volume work (although it is dated and is somewhat flawed in thinking) and Tyerman's "God's War".

not objective.......2007-02-07

Good book if you throw objectivity away and look at history with a sentimental eye rather than a neutral mind. I was dissapointed in the way the book was written.

An easy introduction.......2007-01-28

This book is great for beginners. The writing is smooth and lively, and the author doesn't overwhelm you with too much useless information. Once you're done with this book, if you're interested, you should move on to the books by Jonathan Riley-Smith (we're using them at school). His books contain more information but they are more difficult; I would not recommend them for beginners. You should start with this.

Both Thomas Madden and Jonathan Riley-Smith take a refreshingly balanced approach. They do not paint the Crusades and Imperialism with the same brush, as if the crusaders were just a bunch of greedy European Christians out to plunder innocent Muslim lands. This is currently the popular view; but it confuses the greed of secular imperialists with the piety of devout crusaders. Furthermore, it assumes that Islam spread throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Southern Spain 'innocently.'

Instead, the Crusades were armed pilgrimages to the holy land with three main objectives: a) to come to the aid of Eastern Christians who were under threat by Muslim forces, b) to recapture some of the territory which was recently conquered by Muslim forces, and c) to improve relations with the Eastern Church. Unfortunately, the Crusades eventually failed in all three of these areas.

Once a crusade was launched it was difficult to control, and too many atrocities took place along the way. Two common examples of such atrocities are the massacring of Jews in Germany during the First Crusade, and the sacking of the city of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade. Nevertheless, these atrocities were never the initial intentions of the Crusades. Thomas Madden explains all of this in a very fair way. He neither shies away from the ugliness of these atrocities nor uses them to justify an anti-Catholic/pro-secular rant.

A breath of fresh air.

Lots of information in a small form factor.......2007-01-22

After seeing the great reviews for this book, I picked it up to try to gain a better understanding of the Crusades and how it may be related to current events. I was kind of shell shocked with all of the details this book throws at you. But after getting deeper into the book, it was actually a great read. From the disappointments of the Crusades to the identification of the misunderstanding that often result from historical misconceptions, this book packs a lot of information in a concise and interesting format.

History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

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Calculations are only as good as your numbers
Pants on fire?
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
Very Interesting
History as Science Fiction

History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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They Cast No Shadows: A Collection of Essays on the Illuminati, Revisionist History, and Suppressed Technologies

ASIN: 2913621058

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

A History of the Crusades (A History of the Crusades, Vol 2)

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A History of the Crusades, Volume II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100-1187
The very best on the subject
Not happy
Gripping Tale of the Rise & Fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
The Counter-Crusade

A History of the Crusades (A History of the Crusades, Vol 2)
Steven Runciman
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

General | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0521347718

Book Description

Sir Steven Runcimanâ€™s three volume A History of the Crusades, one of the great classics of English historical writing, is now being reissued. This volume describes the Frankish states of Outremer from the accession of King Baldwin I to the re-conquest of Jerusalem by Saladin. As Runciman says in his preface, â€~The politics of the Moslem world in the early twelfth-century defy straightforward analysis, but they must be understood if we are to understand the establishment of the Crusader states and the later causes of the recovery of Islam â€¦ The main theme in this volume is warfare â€¦ I have followed the example of the old chroniclers, who knew their business; for war was the background to life in Outremer and the hazards of the battlefield often decided its destiny.â€™

Customer Reviews:

A History of the Crusades, Volume II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100-1187.......2007-08-28

All three volumes of this historical work are written extremely well. They are very enjoyable to read. Sir Runciman's observations and personal conclusions are well reasoned and seem unprejudiced. These volumes (3)are among the most enjoyable works I have read on the history of the crusades, I recommend them to anyone interested in a realistic but balanced look at the Crusades and their contributions to Western Civilization as well as their problematic execution. Pax Tecum Fr Bill

The very best on the subject.......2007-03-17

Runciman was a genius. A brilliant writer in English, whose grand ambitions never lead him astray from the most meticulous separation of fact from speculation, he was also an extraordinary polyglot. He read not only the Latin, Old French and Greek among the contemporary accounts of the Crusades, but the Arabic, Syriac, Persian, Hebrew, Gergian, Ethiopic, Slavonic, Norse and Mongolian as well, not to mention modern secondary works in many more languages still. If he shows any favoritism at all among the warring factions of the Crusades, then it is towards the Byzantine Greeks, although what looks like favoritism to me may only be due to my own ignorance. Even if I'm right about his favoring the Greeks, Runciman is still by far the most impartial historian of the Crusades known to me. He's certainly the only one who took the trouble and had the talent to read all the sources in the original. (Most people who've read widely in more than one language can probably appreciate how much tends to be lost in translation, not to mention how much is never translated at all.) As if his reading weren't enough, he often walked through the cities and over the battlefields which he describes in his works, in order to discover things which no one had yet written.

Runciman makes sweeping judgements and expresses strong opinions, although these are often decently hidden between the lines of his polite Cambridge prose. But all of his judgements and opinions have the support of the most solid scholarship.

I recommend the three-volume 'History of the Crusades'. The book 'The First Crusade' is an abridgement of the first volume, without footnotes or appendices or bibliography. In addition to the the three-volume history, I also have a copy of the abridgement 'The First Crusade', but it's the illustrated hardcover edition, ISBN 0521232554. I got it just for the pictures, many in color. The three volumes of the 'History of the Crusades' have a few black-and-white illustrations, and the paperback edition of 'The First Crusade' has no illustrations.

Not happy.......2006-02-25

I ordered this book twice, especially because the picture shows the book with a blue cover which is the Cambridge Press edition.The books I received were not from Canbridge Press and did not have the Appendix III which is the genealogy. These books came from paperbackshop in England. I feel that the genealogy is a very important part of this book and should always be included.

Gripping Tale of the Rise & Fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.......2003-01-02

This second volume of Steven Runciman's three-volume history of the crusades is a masterful piece of scholarship and historiography. If all historians read Runciman's History of the Crusades and learned of his style, there would be fewer complaints from readers that histories are dry, crusty stories.

Indeed, Runciman artfully weaves several elements such as the rise and fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the zenith of Byzantium and the ascension of the Turkish power in the persons of Zenghi, Nur ed-din and Saladin powerful, gripping narrative that brings the rogues and heroes of the crusades to life. Runciman skillfully explains the court intrigues behind the scenes in the crusader kingdom and fiefdoms, the delicate balance of power between Byzantium and the Frankish east and the Turks and the rivalry between Turkish clans and leaders.

This second novel concerns the rise and fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, its place in the three-volume set is critical in that Runciman articulates a few of his his theories concerning the lessons learned from the crusades, and they are difficult to refute. Runciman of particular relevance to contemporary foreign policy in that region, Runciman notices that the politically fractious Turks discovered a unifying force in the presence of the alien Franks, which became a focal point in the development of a pan-Turkish/Muslin identity and a nexus for action. Also, Runciman argues that first-generation crusaders acclimated to local political and cultural customs and could have co-existed to some degree with the Turks and Muslims had it not been for the brash crusaders that arrived after the establishment of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and viewed the situation in more stark, black-and-white terms. Runciman also holds that the Latins could have made more effective use of Byzantium in formulating policy for the east rather than competing with it in some instances and altogether ignoring it in others. Finally, while Runciman assumes that the triumph of Islam in the crusades was an inevitability (mostly due to the policies chosen by the petty nobles that arrived in the east after the first crusade to aggrandize rather than consolidate crusader power) there were shrewd, far-sighted individuals and more of these distinguished men could have stemmed the tide a bit longer. In other words, qualities such as leadership and "the vision thing" are timeless.

The Counter-Crusade.......2002-08-04

Trite as it may seem, this book could accurately be subtitled, "The Arab Empire Strikes Back." Having been introduced to the knights of the First Crusade in the first instalment, the reader rejoins Kings Baldwin and Bohemund, their issue and successors and endures with them the steady erosion and corruption of the Frankish East. Meanwhile, the Arab Caliphs, despite their internal political divisions, undergo a military renaissance, leading, at the very end of this instalment, to the advent of Saladin, the fall of Antioch and the ultimate capture of Jerusalem. Among the highlights in this period are the steady evolution of the special military orders such as the Hospitallers and Templars, and (on the Muslim side) the Assassins.

A History of the Crusades Vol. I: The First Crusade and the Foundations of the Kingdom of Jerusalem

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The very best on the subject
Very Excellent Point of Departure of a Misunderstood Time
History at its finest
On The Crusades, The Best Is Still Good Enough
A great example of why people dislike history

A History of the Crusades Vol. I: The First Crusade and the Foundations of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
Steven Runciman
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

Reference | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

General | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

Medieval | World | History | Subjects | Books
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The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades (Oxford Illustrated Histories)

ASIN: 052134770X

Book Description

Sir Steven Runcimanâ€™s three volume A History of the Crusades, one of the great classics of English historical writing, is now being reissued. This volume deals completely with the First Crusade and the foundation of the kingdom of Jerusalem. As Runciman says in his preface: â€~Whether we regard the Crusades as the most tremendous and most romantic of Christian adventures, or as the last of the barbarian invasions, they form a central fact in medieval history. Before their inception the centre of our civilization was placed in Byzantium and in the lands of the Arab caliphate. Before they faded out the hegemony in civilization had passed to western Europe. Out of this transference modern history was born.â€™

Customer Reviews:

The very best on the subject.......2006-08-14

Runciman was a genius. A brilliant writer in English, whose grand ambitions never lead him astray from the most meticulous separation of fact from speculation, he was also an extraordinary polyglot. He read not only the Latin, Old French and Greek among the contemporary accounts of the Crusades, but the Arabic, Syriac, Persian, Hebrew, Gergian, Ethiopic, Slavonic, Norse and Mongolian as well, not to mention modern secondary works in many more languages still. (My man had a BIG BRAIN.) If he shows any favoritism at all among the warring factions of the Crusades, then it is towards the Byzantine Greeks, although what looks like favoritism to me may only be due to my own ignorance. Even if I'm right about his favoring the Greeks, Runciman is still by far the most impartial historian of the Crusades known to me. He's certainly the only one who took the trouble and had the talent to read all the sources in the original. (Most people who've read widely in more than one language can probably appreciate how much tends to be lost in translation, not to mention how much is never translated at all.) As if his reading weren't enough, he often walked through the cities and over the battlefields which he describes in his works, in order to discover things which no one had yet written.

Runciman makes sweeping judgements and expresses strong opinions, although these are often decently hidden between the lines of his polite Cambridge prose. But all of his judgements and opinions have the support of the most solid scholarship.

I recommend the three-volume 'History of the Crusades'. The book 'The First Crusade' is an abridgement of the first volume, without footnotes or appendices or bibliography. In addition to the the three-volume history, I also have a copy of the abridgement 'The First Crusade', but it's the illustrated hardcover edition, ISBN 0521232554. I got it just for the pictures, many in color. The three volumes of the 'History of the Crusades' have a few black-and-white illustrations, and the paperback edition of 'The First Crusade' has no illustrations.

Very Excellent Point of Departure of a Misunderstood Time.......2005-09-01

Runciman's "A History of the Crusades" might very well seem daunting at first glance. Three volumes devoted to a well known but little understood series of events spanning several hundred years may seem like it will take a lot of note taking just to get through. Rest Assured this is certainly not the case. Keeping the narrative lively and and maintaing a fast pace these books read very quickly. Keeping in Mind that the period covered in these volumes stretches over about 500 years three volumes of medium size still is just a scratch on the surface of the Crusades. Following the copious footnotes the reader will easily understand that there is plenty of more material that could be explored if desired.

All that being said this set provides a very succinct account of the Crusades and also answers the question of "what caused the Crusades. Runciman's answers to this question are Sundry but they are all worth exploring. Using the first 100 pages or so the author explores the Muslims and The Byzantines in their geographical and theological conflicts. The author does a good job to paint the Muslims not as "bad guys" but in fact very humane in some instances. But the situation ultimately sees the Muslim empires reaching their zenith by the middle of the 10th century and Byzantium though still temporally strong, is the weaker player in the East. In the west by this time Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula has caused great concern and it isnt long before French Knights are pouring over the pyrnees to fight back. Here, Europeans get their first taste of "holy war". As fervent as the fighters are over religious matters far more realistic matters like the need for new lands for the nobility as generations of nobles have carved ancestral estates. Primogeniture is coming into play and overall the desire for more land may be equal to the true desire to ransom captive holy cities. When Urban II calls for crusade in Le Puy he is astounded at the enthusiasm of his audience. Not long thereafter (1097) Peter the Hermit humbly leads the first "crusade" which is ultimately a failure.

The history goes on and on but never loses its intensity with the taking of Antioch as the high point of the work. It is an amazing desctiption of the tension between the franks and normans that is frought with near defeats. This is the first of a fantastic set of books that I recomend to all interested individuals but is probably best suited to post high-schoolers. I further recommend background on Muslim history, Byzantium and Western Middle Ages history as it is also valuable to getting the most out of this book. If interested in any particular portion of the history the author gives great acedemic footnotes that can lead the reader further in their quest for understanding.

- Ted Murena

History at its finest.......2005-07-29

Steven Runciman's three-volume history of the Crusades (originally published in the early 1950s) is widely recognized as one of the greatest works of history written in the English language in the twentieth century. As such, it is indispensable reading for any serious student of the crusading period or the Middle Ages in general, as well as those with a broad interest in military history or the Middle East.

The remarkable thing about Runciman's work is that it is just as satisfying to the lay reader as it is to the scholar. Casual readers could be frightened by the prospect of reading a three volume history and instead turn to one of the "introductions" available on the subject by Jonathan Riley-Smith, Hans Eberhard Meyer or Thomas Madden. Believe me, you'll find reading Runciman much easier and more enjoyable than those books, which may be more concise but are also excruciatingly dull.

In the introduction to Volume I Runciman clearly lays out his intentions: "I believe that the supreme duty of the historian is to write history, that is to say, to attempt to record in one sweeping sequence the great events and movements that have swayed the destinies of man." Runciman is true to his goal. Modern scholars may disagree with some of his assertions, but no one can argue that he fell short in writing a captivating history of a crucial epoch in world civilization.

A couple of points on Runciman's style and conclusions bear mentioning. First, he places strong emphasis on the importance of individuals and their ability to sway the course of great events. (This is also a main reason why his work is so much more interesting than other books on the subject.) In his narrative of the First Crusade no figures loom larger than the papal legate Adhemar, Bishop of Le Puy, and the crusading prince from Italian Normandy, Bohemond.

Runciman suggests that Adhemar was the Crusade's indispensable man. The only individual with the talent, will and integrity to manage the polyglot crusading armies to fulfill the desires of Pope Urban II: cooperation with Byzantium and its emperor Alexius Comnenus and adherence to the fundamentally spiritual and penitential mission of retaking Jerusalem from the Moslems. His death from typhoid after the siege of Antioch in 1098 is described as a critical turning point in the history of the Crusades as it deprived the movement of the one individual with the authority to unite and control the warrior princes that swept into the Levant on their ostensibly holy mission. To make matters worse, Adhemar's replacement as papal legate - Daimbert of Pisa - proved to be just as ambitious, self-interested and manipulative as the competing princes, a fact that did much to promote the infighting and land-grabbing that led to the competing Christian states in Outremer.

Bohemond - arguably the greatest crusading general ever, not just of the First Crusades but the entire crusading period out to the thirteenth century - is portrayed by Runciman as something of an antagonist to Adhemar and the whole noble cause of the crusade as preached by Urban at the Council of Clermont and beyond. He is written as the embodiment of the rapacious westerner seeking a rich principality in the East under the cloak of Christian piety.

Second, from the perspective of military history, Runciman argues that the issues of logistics and sea control were critical to the success of the whole campaign. Time and again the crusading armies were nearly destroyed not by marauding bands of Turks or Arabs (although they did pose a threat) but rather by a lack of water and food or from sheer exhaustion during the 1,300 km march across Anatolia to the Holy Lands. On several occasions the crusaders were saved by the timely arrival of a Genoese or Venetian fleet bearing desperately needed supplies - including basic items such as nails and hammers to build the siege engines so critical in taking Jerusalem - and the challenge of capturing and maintaining control of a safe harbor on the Levantine coast as an entrepot for the Christian vessels. (For more on the military aspects of the First Crusade, John France's "Victory in the East" is fantastic.)

In closing, if you're looking to read only one book on the Crusades, Runicman's magisterial history should be your choice. Don't let the size of the work intimidate you. It is history at its finest and the extra time (and money) it will take to read his three volumes will be well worth it.

On The Crusades, The Best Is Still Good Enough.......2005-05-15

Sir Steven Runciman's monumental study has held its appeal for over 50 years. These books have two main merits beyond the author's literary gifts. As a Byzantinist, he situates the Crusades in both European and Middle Eastern contexts, giving due attention to Muslim Arabs and Turks, Greeks, Armenians and other Eastern Christians, and he uses Eastern sources quite well. Most other histories simply treat the crusading era as an episode in Europe's development. Runciman's richly rewarding narrative combines storytelling with analysis of historical controversies. It is not a complete tale of all medieval Crusades, since he omits wars against Muslim Spain, Eastern Slavs, Christian heretics, and crusading episodes after the fall of Acre in 1291. But this "limited" focus on the eastern Mediterranean makes the work tighter and more coherent; later historians like J. Riley-Smith and K. Setton retain much of Runciman's analytical framework. Volumes 2 and 3 on the Kingdoms of Jerusalem and Acre are also superb, but they seem less novel after the unprecedented events of the First Crusade. The most intriguing alternatives on the Crusades present non-Christian views, e.g. A. Maalouf, "The Crusades Through Arab Eyes" and F. Gabrieli, "Arab Historians of the Crusades." A. Oz, "Crusade" is heartrending fiction about First Crusaders' zest for massacring Jews en route to the Holy Land.

A great example of why people dislike history.......2005-03-14

I purchased these books laregely based on the recommendations here at Amazon. However, I was extremely dissappointed in them. I stopped reading after book one. Perhaps my problem was in my expectations. I was looking for an excellent narrative on the crusades. These read more like a reference/text book.

The pages are THICK with information. However, the failure of the author is that he just doesn't "tell" the story. In a single page he can introduce 5 locations and 10 people, 8 of whom are dead before the page is finished. If you are looking for detailed information on the crusades, I can only assume that it is likely in these tomes. If you are looking for the story of the crusades, you won't find it here.

A History of the Crusades, Vol. III: The Kingdom of Acre and the Later Crusades

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The very best on the subject
Gotterdamerung
Definitive History -- Insightful Analysis

A History of the Crusades, Vol. III: The Kingdom of Acre and the Later Crusades
Steven Runciman
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521347726

Book Description

Sir Steven Runcimanâ€™s three volume A History of the Crusades, one of the great classics of English historical writing, is now being reissued. In this final volume, Runciman examines the revival of the Frankish kingdom at the time of the Third Crusade until its collapse a century later. The interwoven themes of the book include: Christiandom, the replacement of the cultured Ayubites by the less sympathetic Mameluks as leader of the Moslem world, and the coming of the Mongols. He includes a chapter on architecture and the arts, and an epilogue on the last manifestations of the Crusading spirit.

Customer Reviews:

The very best on the subject.......2007-03-17

Gotterdamerung.......2002-08-04

In the first instalment, it was all Christian uphill; in the second, there was the Arab renaissance. If Runciman were a novelist the Christians might do better in this one; as he is not, it is virtually downhill all the way for the Crusaders: indeed, apart from a brief growth spurt under Richard the Lionheart they suffer humiliation and worse. Humiliation in the sense of total expulsion from the Holy Land; "worse" in that the Fourth Crusade degenerates into the Sack of Constantinople - which Runciman condemns as one of the greatest crimes in history.

On another level, this is the "Celebrity Crusaders'" edition - not only does this feature Coeur de Lion, we also meet Saladin, Edward I of England (Braveheart's villain), Emperor Frederick II (Stupor Mundi) and Saint Louis (Louis IX) of France - plus a cameo from Ghengkis Khan. But, at the close of two centuries' worth of defeats, the verdict is delivered in the closing chapter, where Runciman denounces the entire crusades as a colossal "fiasco." Maybe so, but a terrific story.

Definitive History -- Insightful Analysis.......2000-06-30

Runciman gives a comprehensive, panoramic account of the Crusades, from the unlikely success of the First Crusade to the final, inevitable defeat of the Crusading movement. He analyzes the reasons for the success and the causes of the ultimate failure of the Crusades, and therein lies a lesson for modern times.

Runciman speaks of the many causes of initial victory and ultimate defeat, and catalogs the grievous injuries to all concerned resulting from the Crusades. His analysis is sobering, and some of it is not inapplicable to the current state of affairs in the Middle East. The Crusader States were looked on by the native Moslems as interlopers to be driven into the sea. That final victory was achieved, but at what cost? Given the fiat accompli of the First Crusade, and the centuries of existence of the Crusader States, couldn't they have achieved a modus vivendi which, if not completely satisfactory to either side, at least allowed the parties to live in harmony without doing further mischief to each other. If all sides of the current conflict in the Middle East would read this book, it might expedite the peace process.

The Scandinavian Baltic Crusades 1100-1500 (Men-at-Arms)
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Good

Long Live McBride!

A key pick.

Baltic Crusaders

Angus McBride...Unconquered.....

The Scandinavian Baltic Crusades 1100-1500 (Men-at-Arms)
David Lindholm , and David Nicolle
Manufacturer: Osprey Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1841769886
Release Date: 2007-02-27

Book Description

Wielding their swords in the name of their faith, the crusaders originally set out to reclaim Jerusalem and its surrounding territory in the Middle East. Increasingly, however, Eastern Europe and the last remaining bastions of pagan Europe became the targets of their religious zeal.

The era officially began in 1147, when the Saxons, Danes, and Poles, responding to Pope Eugene III's call, initiated a crusade against the Wends of the Southern Baltic. This was followed by crusades against the Livonians, Estonians, Finns, Prussians, and Lithuanians. By the 13th century much of the responsibility for sustaining these crusades fell to the Teutonic Knights, a military order formed in the Holy Land in 1190. They were aided by the constant support of the Roman pontiff and by a steady flow of mercenaries from throughout Christendom.

The subsequent Scandinavian campaigns laid the foundations of modern Baltic society by destroying pagan rural farming settlements, and establishing fortified Christian towns and major castles. As with the majority of crusades, the prospective acquisition of land and power was the one of the key driving forces behind these bloody military expeditions.

This book reveals the colorful history of these Crusades when the soldiers of the Pope fought their way across Eastern Europe and inexorably changed the future of the continent.

Customer Reviews:

Good.......2007-07-21

I thought it was a good book but it did not have very much info in it and the middle pictures were not great.

Long Live McBride!.......2007-05-07

If you like the wizard of Middle Ages Europe Illustrations then get this one. While the text is fairly good, the Illustrations are the reason why I bought this book.

A key pick........2007-04-10

D. Lindholm and D. Nicolle's THE SCANDINAVIAN BALTIC CRUSADES 1100-1500 covers the weaponry, armor and ships of the expeditions of the Scandinavian Catholics against the pagans to the east of the Baltics. This is a specialty coverage indeed and so will be limited to collections strong in early military history - but little has been written about this phase of the medieval Crusades and so it's a key pick.

Baltic Crusaders.......2007-04-07

This book gives an informative examination of perhaps the most ignored period of the Crusades. Both the text and the plates detail the appearance and tactics of the Danes, Swedes, Finns, and Teutonic Order, and their typically pagan Slavic and Lithuanain enemies. Plate C also gives an interesting portrayal of the origins of the Danish Flag.

Angus McBride...Unconquered............2007-03-10

This is a wonderfully written book, as one has come to expect from Dr. Nicolle...with some nice local color from Scandinavian writer David Lindholm...yet it is once again those wonderful illustrations by the amazing Angus McBride that captured my imagination. Past his mid 70's Angus' work is still bright, emotional and tells a story expertly.

Most center on the German Armies of the era, this includes the powerful Swedes and Danes and also includes the Russian and Slavic Armies who were waiting for their invasions. Every plate is a gem and coupled with the superb schloarship from the two authors this makes for a very interesting and unique read.

Highly recommended.

Sadly, Angus passed away on May 15th, 2007...this would be one of his last books for Osprey. On a personal note I'd hope you will consider it as a way of honoring the memory of a truly great artist........

The First Crusade: A New History: The Roots of Conflict between Christianity and Islam

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400 Years of Missing Roots
Ho-hum another crusade book
Wouldn't hesitate to recommend this
Poorly researched populist pulp
An excellent history with a major flaw

The First Crusade: A New History: The Roots of Conflict between Christianity and Islam
Thomas Asbridge
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0195189051

Book Description

In The First Crusade, Thomas Asbridge offers a gripping account of a titanic three-year adventure filled with miraculous victories, greedy princes, and barbarity on a vast scale. Beginning with the electrifying speech delivered by Pope Urban II on the last Tuesday of November in the year 1095, readers will follow the more than 100,000 men who took up the call from their mobilization in Europe (where great waves of anti-Semitism resulted in the deaths of thousands of Jews), to their arrival in Constanstinople, an exotic, opulent city--ten times the size of any city in Europe--that bedazzled the Europeans. Featured in vivid detail are the siege of Nicaea and the pivotal battle for Antioch, the single most important military engagement of the entire expedition, where the crusaders, in desparate straits, routed a larger and better equipped Muslim army. Through all this, the crusaders were driven on by intense religious devotion, convinced that their struggle would earn them the reward of eternal paradise in Heaven. But when a hardened core finally reached Jerusalem in 1099 they unleahsed an unholy wave of brutality, slaughtering thousands of Muslims--men, women, and children--all in the name of Christianity. The First Crusade marked a watershed in relations between Islam and the West, a conflict that set these two world religions on a course toward deep-seated animosity and enduring enmity. The chilling reverberations of this earth-shattering clash still echo in the world today.

Customer Reviews:

400 Years of Missing Roots.......2007-09-29

The problem is with the sub-title: "The Roots of Conflict Between Christianity and Islam." Unfortunately far too many writers, teachers, students and even scholars share this misconception today. The Crusades were not the beginning of a millennia long antagonism between Christianity and Islam. Nor were the Crusades the cause of that hostility. To find the roots of the conflict one must go back another 461 years to the Islamic conquest of Christian Palestine and Syria (beginning in 634 CE). By the time Pope Urban II called upon the nobility of Europe (in 1095 CE) to undertake a Crusade for the liberation of the Holy Land from Muslim domination, Christendom had been continuously on the defensive against Islamic Jihadists for well over four centuries.

All the ancient sites of early Christianity from Antioch to Jerusalem to Alexandria had been conquered. All the Christian peoples of the Levant and North Africa as far west as the Iberian Peninsula had been subjugated and reduced to Dhimmitude - a third class status closely resembling the condition of the Jews in Germany during the 1930s. The Sassanian Persian Empire had likewise been overthrown and the ancient Zoroastrian religion all but eradicated. Later the Indian subcontinent would be conquered and the Hindu peoples subjugated and reduced to Dhimmitude. Buddhism was virtually wiped out in India by its Muslim conquerors. It survives today only in Tibet, China, Japan and Southeast Asia.

The simple fact is that Islam was by no means a peaceful or tolerant religion. On the contrary, as far as non Muslims were concerned, it was a militant, imperialist and tyrannical faith.

The Crusades were the first attempt on the part of Christian Europe since the Battle of Tours in 732 to push back the frontiers of Islamic conquest. The Orthodox Christian Byzantine Empire had been at war with Muslim Jihadists in the East almost continuously since 634. Following the disastrous defeat of the Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 the Emperor Alexius Komnenus appealed to the West for help in turning back the tide of Islamic conquest. This was the proximate cause of the Pope's call for a Crusade - a far cry from the unprovoked act of Christian aggression against a peaceful Dar al Islam imagined by most contemporary Islamists and their western apologists.

The First Crusade was as much a political as a religious war. Coming to the assistance of the beleaguered Byzantine Empire was an act of farsighted and self interested statesmanship. By defeating the Islamic threat in the East the freedom of Western Europe was secured for another four centuries. It was only when the West failed to act - standing indifferently aside while the remnant of the Byzantine Empire was extinguished and its Christian inhabitants reduced to Dhimmitude in 1453 - that the West once again faced the threat of Muslim conquest. The floodgates of Islamic expansion were opened, and by 1529, and again in 1683, the invading Ottoman Turks reached the walls of Vienna - the very door-step of Western Europe.

The religious component of the First Crusade was the liberation of the Christian peoples of the Holy Land and the recovery of the sacred sites of Christianity. All wars need a higher purpose - a mission or cause to inspire the armies and win the support of the people. The liberation of the Holy Land was the mission that inspired the Crusading armies and the peoples of Christian Europe. But they also fought in defense of their co-religionists in the Byzantine Empire, and ultimately in defense of European Civilization itself. The Islamic Jihad was pushed back in Anatolia and the Levant and held in check for three hundred years - until the fall of the last Christian stronghold in the East in 1291. At the same time Sicily was recovered and the reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) from its Islamic conquerors was begun. These Crusades enabled Christian Europe to live in safety and security for four hundred years - until the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453.

All too often the Crusades are trivialized by contemporary Islamists and "politically correct" western writers who wrench them out of their historic context and portray them as an act of unprovoked western aggression against a peaceful Islam. In fact they were a long overdue response to four hundred years of Islamic aggression against the Christian World.

Ho-hum another crusade book.......2007-05-27

Here the auther had an oppurtunity to write a book from the perspective of each player, but instead took the course of every other crusade author and give an account purely from the Christian crusader perspective. Also at times, it seams as if the auther was cheering on the Crusaders and spent a lot of time justifying some of the atrocities commited.

Wouldn't hesitate to recommend this .......2007-02-27

This books starts out rather slowly, with a dry academicy analysis of why the Pope called the crusdade. But once the boots hit the road to the Holy Land, the book really takes off.

It reads sort of like a tour guide through the entire First Crusade. He takes you through the struggle, the political intrigue, the strategy of the Christian leaders.

He suceeded in making the first crusade "come alive" for the reader, which is really the mark of a good history book.

Also note, that most of the people who gave this book 1 star did so because they were angry at how the author protrayed the Pope. Don't be thrown off by that, it was a good book, and the vast majority of the book is a protrayal of the crusade itself. The author really doesn't play up the 'roots btween christianity and islam' as the title suggests.

Poorly researched populist pulp.......2007-02-04

Thomas Asbridge makes some fundamental mistakes in an effort to blame-shift the cause of the crusades onto the Papacy.

One such fundamental mistake is to state that (aside from Iberia) Islam and Christendom had been fairly at peace for more than a century.

In effect he wants to suggest that out of the blue the Popes decided to attack Islamic controlled territory. He simply misses out on the many ongoing conflicts such as in Sicily, raids upon southern France, and attacks on the (Eastern) Roman Empire including the major battle of Manzikert (1071). The omission of this battle alone from any consideration is startling.

This alone should be enough to make people wary of buying a book that was written to make revisionist history popular. Many of the glowing accounts about this book are by people who no doubt rely solely upon this work for information from this period.

An excellent history with a major flaw.......2007-01-30

As previous reviewers have said this is a well written book that is easy to read and historically accurate. It is fairly even handed in its treatment of the crusaders and does a pretty good job of explaining their motives, actions and results.

The major flaw is that it neglects the historical context. By that I do not mean the cultural and circumstantial factors in which the first crusade took place. That is well reported. What is missing is the preceding 400 years of Islamic Jihad against the west. Mr. Asbridge asserts that because of the first crusade "The lines of discord hardened. Christendom and Islam had been set on the path to enduring conflict." Perhaps the first crusade had that effect on the attitudes of Muslims who were not used to being on the receiving end of religious violence. However, for the Christians who had been the victims of Islamic violence for the 400 years prior to the first crusade their attitudes concerning Islam as a religion of aggression and conquest had been shaped much earlier. They knew from bitter experience that Islam is a religion of bloodshed and conquest and that if not stopped all Christendom would be under its boot.
Can anyone doubt that the Islamic conquests of all of North Africa, the middle east, Spain, the "Holy Lands," and invasions in France caused "the lines of religious discord" to harden or that they set "Christendom and Islam on the path to enduring conflict?" These countries and regions all had predominantly Christian populations. Does anyone believe that those Christians thought there was no connection between Islam and the soldiers who yelled "Allah-Akbar" as they killed, pillaged and raped their way through Christian countries and homes?
All the crusades together lasted less than 200 years. That is half the time that Islamic Jihads against Christendom had taken place before the first crusade was initiated. The Muslims had also conquered large parts of India, western China and parts of Mongolia. Their wars of aggression in the name of Allah created an empire that stretched from the deserts of Mongolia all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. All of this happened before the first crusade took place. After the last crusade ended and the crusaders left the Holy Lands the Muslims resumed their intermittant Jihads for another 500 years against Europe, Central Asia, China, and elsewhere.
No, the first crusade did not set "the path to enduring conflict." It was in large part a response to centuries of Islamic aggression against the rest of the world including Christendom. This lack of perspective makes what is otherwise a good book a deficient history of the first Crusade.

The Italian Crusades: The Papal-Angevin Alliance and the Crusades Against Christian Lay Powers, 1254-1343 (Oxford University Press Academic Monograph Reprints)

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The Italian Crusades: The Papal-Angevin Alliance and the Crusades Against Christian Lay Powers, 1254-1343 (Oxford University Press Academic Monograph Reprints)
Norman Housley
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0198219253

Book Description

barcode need on back cover

Fighting in the Great Crusade: An 8th Infantry Artillery Officer in World War II

Average customer rating:

Untapped Diary of an 8th Division Officer.
An extremely bias review

Fighting in the Great Crusade: An 8th Infantry Artillery Officer in World War II
Gregory A. Daddis
Manufacturer: Louisiana State University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

FIGHTING IN THE GREAT CRUSADE combines the terse clarity of George E. Schwend's World War II combat journals with Gregory Daddis's expert commentary on the greater context of that conflict. The result is the rare military work that counterpoints historical and strategic analysis against a foxhole-level view of the war in Europe as U. S. soldiers experienced it.

Schwend's story, which typifies that of young American "citizen soldiers" on whom the Allied cause depended, follows a draftee through the rigors of basic training and Officer Candidate School and into the grim theater of the European campaigns in 1944 and 1945. The young lieutenant's diligent entries initially record quotidian particulars of meals, training, and letters home. The accretion of detail forms a grittily realistic day-to-day account of military life, while Daddis's expansive historical backdrop invests with poignance even such routines as Schwend's faithful attendance at movie screenings as the soldier--and readers--anticipate the fateful Normandy invasion.

Schwend observes that despite the rigors of his training nothing could have prepared him or his comrades for the savagery of the actions in which they fought: the Normandy Campaign, the harrowing Heurtgen Forest, the Roer and Rhine River crossings, and the final battles in the Ruhr Pocket. The cauldron of war distills for Daddis the motivations behind why soldiers fight--not, he argues, because they follow exhortations of leaders like Eisenhower, but to protect their peers and to survive, as Schwend did, to write simply, finally: "Home at last."

The first history of the 8th Infantry Division written since 1945, this is the only complete chronicle of the life of an artillery officer serving with the U. S. Army during World War II. Impeccably researched and edited, FIGHTING IN THE GREAT CRUSADE makes an invaluable contribution to the complete war record.

Customer Reviews:

Untapped Diary of an 8th Division Officer........2002-05-18

Anyone interested in American history in general, or American military history in particular, will appreciate the discovery of an untapped diary of an American soldier. Gregory Daddis has unlocked one such diary of a young artillery officer in World War II. What is more, Daddis offers a history of one of the least mentioned, "work horse," divisions, as Russell F. Weigley discribes it in the Foreword, in the European Theater: the U.S. 8th Infantry Division. Daddis reproduces the daily journal entries of George Schwend verbatum. Schwend hides his emotions and sticks to logging his daily routine. Other than his obvious love for his fiance Jean at home, we never know his fears, hopes, aspirations or opinions. Yet the entries shed interesting insight to the training of the U.S. Army (Gen. Eisenhower called the 8th Division the best trained unit to enter the ETO). From the cultural aspect, Schwend lists every movie he saw in three years in the Army. In addition, Schwend's log shows the postal system during the war years, was quite efficient. According to Schwend's daily weather discriptions, except for scattered days, perhaps the weather in Europe (and the 8th Division was in the thick of it) was not abnormally cold as some historians have claimed. Throughout the book, Daddis placed Schwend and the 266 days the 8th Division saw combat from Normandy, Brittany, the bitter Hurtgen Forest, the crossings of the Roer and Rhine Rivers and the horror encountered at the Wobbelin concentration camp in overall perspective. As a veteran of the Persian Gulf War, Major Daddis offers some analysis of his own on combined operations, the role of artillery, and the command structure of the U.S. Army in World War II. Daddis draws from a wealth of sources including some unpublished manuscripts housed at the West Point library, used here for the first time. My only criticism is the book is too short. A valuable addition to the lexicon of the "citizen-soldier!"

An extremely bias review.......2002-05-11

Before I begin, I must acknowledge that this book was written by my nephew and it is based on his grandfather's (my father and name sake) WWII journals.

Greg Daddis, the author, is a graduate of West Point, a veteran of Desert Storm and currently serving as a Major in the US Army. This is not 'Saving Private Ryan', but a very factual, meticulously researched and well documented perspective on WWII, as it correlates to the actual journal entries made by my dad as he began basic training, then on to Officer Candidate's School (90 day wonders), overseas for the build up in England, on to the war in Europe and his eventual return to the states. Greg makes a point of the fact that we fought WWII with a civilian army and my dad epitomizes that fact.

More 'History Channel' then 'Hollywood'...Greg took no 'literary license' and included every journal entry exactly as it was written, without corrections or deletions...he then provided a detailed and documented historical perspective as it related to the entries that were being made in the journals and spaced throughout the book.

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