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Unexpected
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Not as good as Jones' other works.
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Amazing work
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Fabulous story; but need a scorecard.
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Excellent Narrative History
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Cheated out of SUMMER OF BLOOD
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In 1307, as they struggled to secure their last strongholds in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Templars fell afoul of the vindictive and impulsive king of France. On Friday, October 13, hundreds of brothers were arrested en masse, imprisoned, tortured, and disbanded amid accusations of lurid sexual misconduct and heresy. They were tried by the Vatican in secret proceedings. But were they heretics or victims of a ruthlessly repressive state?
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Unexpected
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Amazing work
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Fabulous story; but need a scorecard.
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A Detailed History
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Publisher's Summary
A major new history of the Crusades with an unprecedented wide scope, told in a tableau of portraits of people on all sides of the wars, from the New York Times best-selling author of The Templars.
For more than 1,000 years, Christians and Muslims lived side by side, sometimes at peace and sometimes at war. When Christian armies seized Jerusalem in 1099, they began the most notorious period of conflict between the two religions. Depending on who you ask, the fall of the holy city was either an inspiring legend or the greatest of horrors. In Crusaders, Dan Jones interrogates the many sides of the larger story, charting a deeply human and avowedly pluralist path through the crusading era.
Expanding the usual timeframe, Jones looks to the roots of Christian-Muslim relations in the eighth century and tracks the influence of crusading to present day. He widens the geographical focus to far-flung regions home to so-called enemies of the Church, including Spain, North Africa, southern France, and the Baltic states. By telling intimate stories of individual journeys, Jones illuminates these centuries of war not only from the perspective of popes and kings, but from Arab-Sicilian poets, Byzantine princesses, Sunni scholars, Shi'ite viziers, Mamluk slave soldiers, Mongol chieftains, and barefoot friars.
Crusading remains a rallying call to this day, but its role in the popular imagination ignores the cooperation and complicated coexistence that were just as much a feature of the period as warfare. The age-old relationships between faith, conquest, wealth, power, and trade meant that crusading was not only about fighting for the glory of God, but also, among other earthly reasons, about gold. In this richly dramatic narrative that gives voice to sources usually pushed to the margins, Dan Jones has written an authoritative survey of the holy wars with global scope and human focus.
Critic Reviews
“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)
“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)
“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)

Editor's Pick
A cinematic approach to history
"Just about two years ago, I asked Dan Jones about his next book. He said, "There have been lots of books about the Crusades….I shall not be trying to redo or rewrite….I want to take it a step further and write a book...in which we follow characters through the Crusades. And they rotate somewhat in the way that George [R.R.] Martin actually has rotated his characters in his fictional work [in]…Westeros." The wait is over, listeners! I’m happy to report Crusaders lives up to its promise, a history title that feels like fiction! Plus, the author's precise but energetic narration adds to the charm."
—Christina H., Audible Editor
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What listeners say about Crusaders
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Tad Davis
- 01-06-20
Gripping but not tidy
Dan Jones makes it clear that his book is about people, which is why he calls it “Crusaders” rather than “The Crusades.” And he takes his people from all sides and walks of life. It’s a complex and fascinating narrative: it starts in Spain, as the Islamic civilization there begins to crack; continues through the fall of Acre, which marked the end of the Crusader Kingdoms of Palestine; and then back to Spain for the end of the Reconquista.
It's not a tidy history; the narrative doesn't fall neatly into boxes labeled the First Crusade, the Second Crusade, and so forth. The formally-declared crusades in Palestine were the most massive of the military campaigns but they were not the only ones. Crusades were fought against many groups outside of Palestine: there were crusades in Northern Africa, in Spain, in Northern Germany and Southern France. Some of the most vicious fighting occurred in France, as Catholic armies tried to exterminate the Cathars — Christians who differed on theological points. One of the most successful operations was the sack of Constantinople by the European Christians of the Fourth Crusade. Constantinople was, of course, the Christian city that first asked for help against the Muslims in the first place.
Jones gives a detailed and clear description of Saladin’s rise to power in the aftermath of the Second Crusade. He notes that Saladin fought as many, or more, battles against other Muslims as he did against the Crusader Kingdoms. Only after cementing his power in Egypt and Syria did he move against Jerusalem, finally taking that city after decimating the combined Crusader armies at the Battle of Hattin. The capture of Jerusalem led directly to the Third Crusade. Richard the Lionheart stormed ashore at Acre and liberated the besieged city, marched almost to the gates of Jerusalem, and suddenly ran out of steam. The best he could get was an agreement to let Christian pilgrims visit the city.
Sadly, atrocities abounded on all sides, often as a way of celebrating victory. On the European side, it started with the People’s Crusade and its massacre of Jews in Germany. Months after the fall of Jerusalem in the First Crusade, the stench of death from slaughtered Jews and Muslims was so bad that visitors had to cover their faces. A fragment of the True Cross was recovered by torturing its keeper: not a Muslim but a Greek Orthodox priest. Innocent civilians had their hands and feet cut off; men were castrated; pregnant women were cut open. After the battle at Acre, Richard executed 2000 Muslim prisoners when Saladin took too long to respond to an offer.
The fifth crusade drowned in the floodwaters of the Nile. The seventh, fighting on the same ground, avoided drowning but succumbed to dysentery. Only the sixth came anywhere close to a “good” outcome, when Frederick Hohenstaufen, the Holy Roman Emperor, decided to negotiate rather than fight. Without giving up much — and without spilling any blood — he won back ownership of Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Jerusalem. Instead of inspiring celebrations, the deal was condemned by all sides.
By then the Mongols and Turks were rampaging through the region and brought the Ayyubid Dynasty — the dynasty to which Saladin belonged — to an end. Cities that resisted were wiped out, with tens of thousands of bodies left to rot as a warning. The Mongols pushed across the steppes into Hungary, threatening Europe directly. The Turks pushed into Anatolia, heading for Constantinople. The Crusader Kingdoms were reduced to the area around Acre, which finally fell in 1291, bringing the whole tragic adventure to a kind of end.
I say “kind of end” because the battles continued to flicker and rage for another two centuries. At this point his narrative overlaps with the books 1453 and Empires of the Sea by Roger Crowley, both excellent popular histories. It's not a tidy story, but it’s written and narrated with the verve of a born storyteller. Jones’s many books on medieval history are distinguished by his ability to include complex detail without slowing the pace of the narrative.
In a brief epilogue, the author laments that unfortunately, while the Crusades are long gone, many Crusaders remain. Nine hundred years later, they remain a flashpoint.
Dan Jones does a great job narrating his own work. If he ever gets tired of writing history, he certainly has another career waiting in the wings.
Unfortunately it needs to be pointed out (again) that the print edition of the book has a number of beautiful and informative maps; geography plays a major role in this story, and without a firm grasp of it, much of the story will be hard to follow. There is also an extensive “cast of characters” in the book that is a useful reference for names. But alas, there is no accompanying PDF to present either of these to the audiobook listener. For a book like this, that is a significant omission. Web searches help but are not tailored to this specific narrative.
24 people found this helpful
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- Richard Rogel
- 02-05-20
Can't read without maps
What seems like a good book is impossible to follow without maps. Why not include a pdf when you download the book
13 people found this helpful
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- Ky
- 01-29-20
Mostly Insightful
Jones is a great historian, writer and presenter and, by taking on this difficult subject, he proves his quality yet again. This work was very thorough and thought-provoking. My only critique would be that he leans towards condemnation of the Christian side, which many historians do. He is often cynical of sources the extol or justify any Crusader action but accepts as fact any material that praises Jihadists (while alao being skeptical of reports of any Muslim brutality). Its hard to be fair when dealing with the Crusades (at the very end of the book he compares loan, crazed "Christian" attackers with whole "Islamic" terrorist organizations), but Jones does a great job explaining the minutiae to the layperson, even if he does tend towards the current Western trend of apology-by-guilt, cultural self-loathing and being overly harsh to your own while also being lavishly lenient to the other side.
13 people found this helpful
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- I found Godot.
- 10-07-19
Dan Jones delivers again.
I really like the narrative style here. It may be his best work yet. Really great narration job.
5 people found this helpful
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- J.Brock
- 05-19-20
Wow!! Absolutely Brilliant.
Dan Jones is a quintessential historian. He takes something that could be textbook like and very dry, and makes it a most compelling story. And not only that, he's an amazing narrator. Very rarely do authors have the gift of superior narration. But his voice brings this most incredible, and at times unbelievable, time in history to life. It feels like it's happening now. It's mesmerizing.
3 people found this helpful
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- Laura M. Vian
- 11-06-19
Poor telling of an amazing story
Dan Jones turned one of the most fascinating epochs in history into an utterly forgettable litany of names and places. This book glosses over some of the most interesting episodes of the crusader period, such as Peter the Hermit's massacre of European Jews, the debacle of the People's Crusade, and the story of the Holy Lance.
Read The Crusades by Thomas Asbridge instead. He tells a much more memorable story.
13 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 09-03-20
Great summary of a complicated slice of history
This was an entertaining and informative historical account of a part of history I knew nothing about. There was a little too much detail that was hard to keep track of in an audio book, but he tried to pack a lot in, which I could appreciate. I’d like to dig deeper into some individual portions of the history and this book gave me a good guide into what to explore further. The narration was entertaining and complementary to the text. I did not like how the text would convert km and miles back and forth, just choose a unit and we can convert. Either way, a great find
2 people found this helpful
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- G Dillon Murphy
- 04-22-20
fairly basic overview
it's was pretty good, but I was hoping for more specific anecdotes around non-players. I know all about King Richard III, Saladin, Beibars and King Louis. I was hoping to hear more like the earlier Muslim Sicilian poet, the Norwegian princes and Cathars.
2 people found this helpful
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- David Radlauer
- 03-07-20
Lively History
Dan Jones has a distinct talent for making distant times vivid and understandable. Topics not ordinarily of interest are engrossing in his recounting.
1 person found this helpful
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- TERRENCE P DUGAN
- 02-19-20
" Not Good History..."
Not good history but great history! The scope of this work is, as the title states, epic. What is most satisfying is how Mr. Brown discusses some of the modern day ramifications of these astoundingly brutal conflicts. If we are to understand the current implications of the Crusades, we must understand the past. People, places, and political motivations are all examined in this work. Like any great history book it will leave you wanting more, in a good way!
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