Since the publication of the first edition of The Crusades: A Reader, interest in the Crusades has increased dramatically, fueled in part by current global interactions between the Muslim world and Western nations. The second edition features an intriguing new chapter on perceptions of the Crusades in the modern period, from David Hume and William Wordsworth to World War I political cartoons and crusading rhetoric circulating after 9/11. Islamic accounts of the treatment of prisoners have been added, as well as sources detailing the homecoming of those who had ventured to the Holy Land-including a newly translated reading on a woman crusader, Margaret of Beverly. The book contains sixteen images, study questions for each reading, and an index.

The Crusades: A Reader is an indispensable teaching resource. As in the previous edition, Allen and Amt present a sampling of crusading and anti-crusading literature and imagery that is well suited to undergraduate readers. The collection devotes attention not just to the external theaters of crusading, but to the internal as well, and strikes an appropriate balance between the promoters and the critics of the Crusades. The second edition's inclusion of excerpts from al-Sulami's The Book of the Jihad is particularly welcome, as is the section on modern perceptions of the Crusades, with thirteen new sources that carry the history and historiography of crusading into the twenty-first century. There is in my opinion no better short collection of crusading sources in English translation. -- David J. Hay, University of Lethbridge The collection of translated sources in The Crusades: A Reader is one of the most comprehensive yet assembled. It covers the centuries from the late eleventh to the early sixteenth and includes texts illustrating actions in theaters of war that are often ignored, such as Spain, the Baltic region, and the interior of Western Europe. It is to be recommended as a very congenial and informative introduction to a large, complex, and historically important subject. -- Jonathan Riley-Smith, University of Cambridge This is a stellar collection, and there is nothing to equal it on the market. By bringing together primary sources written by various Christian, Muslim, and Jewish authors, this anthology elegantly conveys the diversity of experiences of the crusades&emdash;those of its participants and those of its victims. The questions for discussion that the authors provide are tailor-made for each source, and make teaching this complicated subject all the easier. This second edition is especially strong in its new coverage of modern perceptions of the Crusades. The editors are to be congratulated. -- Paul M. Cobb, University of Pennsylvania

About the Author
S.J. Allen is a medieval historian and an associate lecturer at The Open University. Emilie Amt is an emeritus professor of history at Hood College.

Reviews
Allen and Amt have dusted off the Crusades from the relics shelf of European history and have brought the conflict into a new age of scholarship, making use of a multifaceted, multicultural perspective of great value in our interconnected world where an understanding of cultural context is so vital. -- Comitatus
The book's beauty lies in its documentation of relevant and important primary sources from both Christian as well as Muslim sources. Moreover, after documenting the sources it neither judges nor analyses; rather, at the end of almost each document it encourages readers to engage more with it and poses some important questions, such as why, what, how, and when. -- Journal of Human and Society



Book Information
ISBN 9781442606234
Author S.J. Allen
Format Paperback
Page Count 464
Imprint University of Toronto Press
Publisher University of Toronto Press
Weight(grams) 700g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 28mm