[brownsfan]

My public school education sort of skimmed the crusades. I know very little detail. Can you recommend an objective book on the Crusades?
Although I side with the Christians, and wouldn't mind seeing a Crusades revival, I also realize not every single muslim is bad. It would be nice to read an account with some sensiblity to the Muslim side, (even though I assume it was quite weak).
I guess what I'm saying is: I know much evil has been done over the years in the name of Christianity. I would not enjoy a book that portrayed every move, every battle as the virtuous Christians vs. the evil Muslims.

[Antoninus]

My public school education sort of skimmed the crusades. I know very little detail. Can you recommend an objective book on the Crusades?

Here's one written by eminent Catholic historian Hillaire Belloc in the 1930s:



I found this quote in it that was particularly prescient:

"There is with us [in the West] a complete chaos in religious doctrine.... We worship ourselves, we worship the nation; or we worship (some few of us) a particular economic arrangement believed to be the satisfaction of social justice....Islam has not suffered this spiritual decline; and in the contrast between [our religious chaos and] the religious certitudes still strong throughout the Mohammedan world ... lies our peril."

[mike182d]

I highly recommend reading A Concise History of the Crusades by Thomas Madden.

Infact, if you want a really concise summary, you can read him here. Its an article by Professor Madden in National Review Online.

[Williams]

If you want an objective, insightful and elegant account of the history of the Crusades, the Christian Church, and the Moslem religion the essential place to look is Gibbons' Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. You can't sum up the good, bad and epic that occured over hundreds of years in a movie. These are vast historical events and Gibbons applies his famous sense of irony to illuminate them. He acknowledges the good and the bad alike and also recognizes when we just don't know. It's a vast work so you would consult the sections dealing with this subject. The story of Mohammed, the Church, the Crusades, is all facinating.