'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.' Professor Akbar S. Ahmed, Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University in Washington, D.C., and author of Islam Under Siege 'Thomas Asbridge achieves vivid characterisation and gripping storytelling without sacrifice of scholarship. Interweaving analysis, narrative, evocative description and occasional wry humour, 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.' Professor Felipe Fernandez-Armesto Author of Millennium and Civilizations 'A nuanced and sophisticated analysis ... persuasive ... his sensitivity to topographical detail - and its tactical importance to the campaign - gives his account the tightly focused immediacy of travelogue ... it is both exhilarating and disconcerting to be immersed in the sheer foreignness of the crusaders' world' John Adamson, Sunday Telegraph 'Asbridge's ability to write clearly and the numerous accompanying maps and illustrations help convey his topic with ease' THE BIG ISSUE Very, very engrossing' Radio Four, Howard Schuman (27/3) '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 for place...one is left with a clear sense of the wretched consequences when people take religion too seriously' THE GUARDIAN 03/04 'The first, very considerable, merit of these two books ... is that both authors ... while fully aware naturally of modern perspectives, present the story to us from the point of view, principally, of the Crusaders themselves... Both these books are enthralling. Thoroughly documented and academically respectable ... they are also admirable examples of narrative history written with the general reader in mind. Nobody can read them without acquiring a better understanding of the Middle Ages and the mediaeval mind; nor, I would think, without developing an admiration for the courage, tenacity, and even the idealism of the Crusaders. To that extent, both may be called revisionist history' Allan Massie, LITERARY REVIEW 'Innovative, in that it confounds many of the cliches hovering over the First Crusade, and does so with rigour and charity ... With judicious and generous use of first-hand accounts, Asbridge presents a disarmingly diverse picture of the crusaders ... [a] comprehensive refutation of scholarly cliche' Murrough O'Brien INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY 'Balances persuasive analysis with a flair for conveying with dramatic power the crusaders' plight through out the nine-month siege of Antioch...stunning...should revitalize the study of this fascinating period in European history.' Financial Times 26/06 'Salutary reading ... the first book on the subject to get us close to the way the crusaders thought and felt, when they mistook massacre for charity and bloodshed for penance' Felipe Fernandez Armesto, The Times Medieval History Magazine: 'Thomas Asbridge's account of this First Crusade has vividly brought the event to life ... everyone should read this book' Jason Taliadoros, in The Age '[Asbridge's] prose is straightforward yet gripping ... his scholarship thorough and careful; here is an authour whose passionate engagement transcends the divide between the academic and general reader ... he is that rare breed of historian whose painstaking research does not compromise his readability'. 'Asbridge is a brave man, attempting to write a book about a subject much traversed especially in the light of Riley-Smith's able scholarship, but his courage is well-placed, because his book is nothing short of brilliant. His excellent book more than readable, it is actually gripping. The sooner he follows the footsteps of Starkey and Schama as a TV historian presenting a series on the Crusades the better...Normally such an account would be dry and open to a charge of excessive detail, but Asbridge has that rare gift in a scholar of making history read like a novel' Dr Anthony McRoy, Muslim Weekly 'Asbridge, in keeping with his aim to produce a popular history, writes with maximum vividness' New Yorker 'Thomas Asbridge chronicles [the First Crusade] very well indeed ... His brisk and skilfully constructed narrative makes effective use of the picturesque detail in which his sources abound. The gathering of the armies and their three-year progress to Jerusalem, with its attendant logistic, diplomatic and martial complexities, and its dreadful sufferings and barbarities, are well mapped and clearly and vividly described' R. I. Moore, Times Literary Supplement "Asbridge's book gives exactly the sort of fast-flowing narrative the story demands. He writers clearly and vigorously, with a fine eye for telling detail...he presents a vivid picture of the landscapes they passed through...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 ... [The First Crusade] can be recommended toa general reader who wants an introduction to the Crusades and their legacy. [It also shows] a commitment by younger historians to move away from the circularity of much academic writing and show that what they have to say is important for the public. Above all, they [Asbridge and his contemporaries] are scholars who believe that their work should be exciting and fun to read." Hugh Kennedy, New York Times Book Review "it's not a pretty tale, and Mr Asbridge tells it graphically, having not only read all the primary sources but also actually walked along the Crusaders' route through Syria and into Palestine' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'Absorbing re-evaluation of the first and most important of the crusades ... Asbridge recreates the mindset that enabled these warriors of Christ to equate killing with salvation' MAIL ON SUNDAY
