A Brief History of the Crusades

Geoffrey Hindley has written an easy to read short history that will be of great use to those that have little to no knowledge of the Crusades. I would also suggest it is a fantastic refresher for anyone looking to reread after a long absence from this fascinating subject. As usual with these “A Brief History” series we get things short, sharp but concise. The history is presented in chronological order and we also get some good maps, illustrations, a chronology of events, very useful appendices, competent footnotes and a very good bibliography.

This book was written in 2003 but there is very good comment in the final chapter discussing the various consequences on modern issues that are still relevant nearly 20 years later. I in fact asked myself would this chapter be relevant in decades time and I sadly suspect it will.
When concluding the final chapter proper on the subject the author writes that the crusades had, “...moments of true glory and gestures of hypocrisy, but above all (were) inspired by that confusion of motives and ideals which tends to be in the human condition”. Well said.

This is an excellent Brief History.