Crusaders - Hardcover

Jones, Dan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1781858888 ISBN 13: 9781781858882

Publisher: Head of Zeus, 2019

Synopsis

Dan Jones, best-selling chronicler of the Middle Ages, turns his attention to the history of the Crusades—the sequence of religious wars fought between the late 11th century and late medieval periods, in which armies from European Christian states attempted to wrest the Holy Land from Islamic rule, and which have left an enduring imprint on relations between the Muslim world and the West. From the preaching of the First Crusade by Pope Urban II in 1095 to the loss of the last crusader outpost in the Levant in 1302-03, and from the taking of Jerusalem from the Fatimids in 1099 to the fall of Acre to the Mamluks in 1291, Crusaders tells a tale soaked in Islamic, Christian and Jewish blood, peopled by extraordinary characters, and characterised by both low ambition and high principle. Dan Jones is a master of popular narrative history, with the priceless ability to write page-turning narrative history underpinned by authoritative scholarship. Never before has the era of the Crusades been depicted in such bright and striking colours, or their story told with such gusto.

About this title

About the Author

Dan Jones is a broadcaster, award-winning journalist and pioneer of the resurgence of interest in medieval history. He is the bestselling author of The Plantagenets, Magna Carta, The Wars of the Roses, and The Templars. 

Review

“Jones paints a vivid and accurate picture of the culture, politics, and personalities of the crusading period, covering vast swaths of history and many personalities with aplomb."—Publishers Weekly

“Dan Jones brings to life a tremendous cast of characters from every arena of the crusading world, from the eastern Mediterranean to southern Spain, and from Byzantium to the Baltic. Coupling vivid storytelling with a researcher's eye for the telling anecdote, Jones offers a fresh and vibrant – but meticulously constructed – account of a conflict that raged across the medieval centuries, and whose echoes continue to resonate to the present day.”—Jonathan Phillips, author of The Life and The Legend of The Sultan Saladin and Holy Warriors
 
“A powerful story brilliantly told. Dan Jones writes with pace, wit and insight, a panoramic gaze and unfailing humanity. The result is utterly compelling.”—Helen Castor, author of She-Wolves and Joan of Arc

“The centuries of campaigning to reclaim the Holy Land retain their fascination, as demonstrated by this expert mixture of cutthroat politics, battlefield fireworks, and mass murder . . . As usual, the author has done his homework, laboring mightily to recount century after century of gruesome warfare between profoundly religious cultures with apparently no inhibition against lying and profound cruelty . . . [Readers] will keep the pages turning.”—Kirkus Reviews

Jones’ sweeping coverage of a conflict of three centuries’ duration hews to the highest standards of popular history. It is literate, thoroughly engaging, and serious, without condescension towards either its matter or its readers.”—Booklist (*starred*)

“The author’s choice to make the people doing the action rather than the act as the focus is insightful...An entertaining and informative look at a potent historical phenomenon whose echoes are still being felt today.”—Library Journal (*starred*)

About this edition

• Publisher: Head of Zeus
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1781858888
• ISBN 13: 9781781858882
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 512