Items related to The First Crusade : A New History
Nine hundred years ago the Pope initiated one of the most controversial episodes in Christian history by stating that God wanted European knights to wage a fierce and bloody war against Islam and recapture Jerusalem. Thus was the First Crusade born. Its story is compelling, capable of inspiring awe through tales of bold adventure and revulsion through excesses of violence and barbarity, while at the same time providing us with significant insights into medieval society, morality and mentality. Tom Asbridge re-creates this fascinating period of history in a stunning narrative. Compelling and enlightening in equal measure, and drawing on new research which has radically remoulded our understanding of the movement, THE FIRST CRUSADE is a major work by an outstanding young historian.
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About the Author:
"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
Thomas Asbridge is a Reader in Medieval History at Queen Mary University in London, and an internationally renowned expert on the history of the Crusades. He has written and presented a major BBC TV series on the Crusades and a documentary on William Marshal. His acclaimed titles The First Crusade and The Crusades are also available from Simon & Schuster.
Review:
"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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- PublisherGardners Books
- Publication date2005
- ISBN 10 0743220846
- ISBN 13 9780743220842
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages432
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The First Crusade : A New History
Published by
Gardners Books
(2005)
ISBN 10: 0743220846
ISBN 13: 9780743220842
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The First Crusade : A New History
Published by
Gardners Books
(2005)
ISBN 10: 0743220846
ISBN 13: 9780743220842
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Paperback
Quantity: 1
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