Very interesting and informative

Explained in a easy way to follow.My knowledge of the world back then was fuzzy now it's a lot clearer.My thanks to the author for the good work

The bulk of this book consists almost entirely of an analysis of the period of the first and second Crusades up until the fall of Jerusalem; a summary which you can read pretty much anywhere, (except without this author's glaring oversights, disingenuous claims and outright lies,) combined with tediously dry analyses of the politics, geography and logistics of the era, rationalising the author's pet 'Armchair General' theory that if only the Crusaders had conquered Damascus, then Islam would have been destroyed and the Middle East would be Christian. But woven throughout this dry analysis and 'What If'-ing is all of the comedy gold of listening to self-proclaimed 'Historians' and 'Intellectuals' like Peter Hitchens, Sebastian Gorka or Dinesh D'Souza rant and rave about "The Clash Between Islam & The West" with none of the bitter aftertaste of knowing they're still alive and stoking Islamophobia across the world. Because after all, the author died in 1953.

Indeed, one has to wonder why anyone went to the time and trouble of re-publishing this long debunked Anti-Muslim polemic when, as I say, historians have long since eviscerated the 'Civilisation Against Barbarism' narrative of the Crusades. On top of which, as I also just mentioned, this book's descriptions of the events can be found in a much more accurate and less biased form on any Wikipedia page, and the author's pet theory is 'Academic' in the most derogatory sense of the term. So in the end, the only reason I can think of is that the entire premise of this book is built upon the same rabid paranoia (contradicted by the author's own analysis of the Muslim politics of the era) that Islam - a single, malevolent movement - seeks to invade and destroy 'Superior' Christian Europe that is the basis of all 21st Century Islamophobia as well. But still, if like me, you've read to every other book about the Crusades that you can find, are able to stomach the author's seemingly endless racist ranting against 'Mongels,' (Seljuk Turks,) 'Mixed Marriage' and 'Half-Breeds' and have never unironically claimed anything to the effect of "It's Not 'Islamophobia' Because My Fear Of Islam Isn't Irrational," then this might be good for a laugh.

Excellent history of the crusades, I learned a lot as I knew pretty much nothing about them before reading this. Refreshingly not politically correct at all and would probably be banned if published today because of the authors viewpoint and some of his phrases. It was written at a time when scholarship was of a very high standard far superior to that of today so I would bet that it gives a far better account than you might get from many modern historians. I intend to read more Belloc.