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  • The Crusades

  • The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land
  • Written by: Thomas Asbridge
  • Narrated by: Derek Perkins
  • Length: 25 hrs and 32 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (248 ratings)

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The Crusades

Written by: Thomas Asbridge
Narrated by: Derek Perkins
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Publisher's Summary

The Crusades is an authoritative, accessible single-volume history of the brutal struggle for the Holy Land in the Middle Ages. Thomas Asbridge - a renowned historian who writes with "maximum vividness" (Joan Acocella, The New Yorker) - covers the years 1095 to 1291 in this big, ambitious, listenable account of one of the most fascinating periods in history. From Richard the Lionheart to the mighty Saladin, from the emperors of Byzantium to the Knights Templar, Asbridge's book is a magnificent epic of holy war between the Christian and Islamic worlds, full of adventure, intrigue, and sweeping grandeur.

©2010 Thomas Asbridged (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers

What the critics say

"Derek Perkins is, as always, a matchless narrator. One could relish this production entirely for the music of his pronunciation." ( AudioFile)

What listeners say about The Crusades

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic Book

Very well written, and I think a balanced and fair look at the Crusades. The third crusade was my favorite

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5 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • 101
  • 2018-10-03

Probably the Best Book Ever Written on the Subject

A fantastic and gripping telling of the events! I enjoyed this book from beginning to end, and it’s exactly what I look for in a book on history.

If you are remotely interested in the subject, do yourself a favor and pick this one up. You won’t regret it.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Al
  • 2020-04-03

First audio book

Not a single slow moment partly because this book is based on is full of action and interesting material however the narrator and author of the book should be applauded for the delivery of the correct information as well as the near-perfect narration of this book.

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2 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

not bad just not very engaging

not bad just not very engaging, would recommend if you really enjoy the subject matter.

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1 person found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

This is a good book is for the detail oriented

If you like the period and the topic, you'll enjoy this detailed (and pretty balanced) history of the various crusades.
I knew the names of some of the key players so it was interesting to get a more detailed (and accurate) account of them and their actions during the crusades. My only disapppointment was a total lack of detail or insight on the 'Children's Crusade' which the author discounted as one of the crusade's to be counted.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Complete, balanced academic

I enjoyed this comprehensive history of the crusades. Especially as it presents both sides fairly

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

a fantastic exploration of the Crusading era

from the miracle of the 1st crusade to the eventual end of the era by the Mamluk war machine this is an exciting and informative volume.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Painstakingly Accurate Chronicle

To be certain, Thomas Asbridge dicusses sociopolitical, economic, and religious motivations for the participants of the Christian/Muslim wars of the late Middle Ages (on both sides - Latin/Frank and Turkish/Arabic), but the majority of this book is concentrated on documenting the battles fought with punctilious completeness. 'The Crusades' is mostly a remarkable Military History.
The book is easy to understand (written for both a scholastic and a general audience), presented with an admirably honest tone (authoritative but pointing out disputed posits), and organized logically (like the outline of a course syllabus).
Less fortunately, there are a *lot* of names and dates and an overall very dry, academic feel to the book (attempts to enliven it seem contrived). In general, this book is a scholarly effort intended for scholars.

Fortunately, Harper Audio enlisted Derek Perkins to read the book. He reads slightly too slowly (I found a playback speed of 1.10X optimal), but Perkins exhibited unparallelled diction and enough emotiveness to keep me interested in an honestly pretty boring text.

History books are hit & miss in the Audiobook format (textbooks are horrible listening fodder, but immersive "man-on-the-ground" exposés can be excellent). 'The Crusades' is a middling effort. I give this recording 7.5 stars out of 10. I am grateful to Audible for offering it for free as part of the 'Plus' catalogue.

ATTN PRODUCERS: Adding a PDF Appendix/Timeline to this product would improve it substantially.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Good - but not quite as balanced as I thought

Very good read. But I feel the author criticizes Christian motives more critically than that of the Muslims.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • K.
  • 2021-05-16

A must listen .

Well balanced, narrated and detailed. A solid work. Pleasant in presentation enough to seem as if to be a tale of fiction. Recommend highly.

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  • Tad Davis
  • 2016-10-04

Comprehensive

There are a few topics that get short shrift in Asbridge's account, like the Albigensien Crusade and the People's Crusade. But if you want a comprehensive history of the wars fought in the Middle East, he's your guy. Asbridge writes with great narrative pace without sacrificing detail; he clarifies both the complex political history of Outremer and the moment-by-moment action of the great battles and sieges. The story is filled with great personalities - Saladin, Richard Lionheart, the sad Louis King of France, the brutal Baybars. A final chapter reflects on how the crusades have been used as reference points in later history. Derek Perkins' reading is brisk and interesting.

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109 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • J. Newhouse
  • 2017-11-22

Very good, but...

Performance is superb and research, storytelling, and putting it all together are very well done. Opened my eyes to a new viewpoint on pre-crusades and arguments on whether or not Muslim aggression sparked the crusades. Didn’t really care for the ending. Author felt he needed to do a little Bush bashing. He always strives to give context to Islamic actions, but isn’t willing to be that generous for contemporary Western actions. Should’ve and could’ve just left that whole part out.

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90 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • T. Anderson
  • 2016-09-24

Learned more from this than in the past 60 years.

This book taught me more than just about any other historical piece I have read. It manages to masterfully put the Crusades in a format that shows the personalities on both sides that created the political conditions that fueled the hundred years of violence between two competing religions, philosophies and political systems for dominance of Palestine and its religious sites, holy to both sides.

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81 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Anonymous User
  • 2019-04-21

Blatant Bias

Anti-European bias is plain with unnecessary excerpts about the Crusaders, while painting Islam as flawless.

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57 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • 54mm Napoleonics
  • 2018-02-27

Interesting Biased Account

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

No.

What was most disappointing about Thomas Asbridge’s story?

It was a "story". It was an almost fictionalized account of the Crusades. It is obvious Asbridge is a Muslim sympathizer and nigh unto apologist, suffering from modern political correctness in completely ignoring the Historically documentable muslim aggression and blatantly misleads the Reader about the of battles instigated by the Muslims from Spain to Damascus on land and sea (including raids for slaves in mainland Europe). This a verbose, useless work suitable only for those knowledgeable in the period so as to know exactly where the errors, omissions, deceptions, inaccuracies, and bias lie.

Have you listened to any of Derek Perkins’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Excellent performance.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Great disappoint with a bit of anger for the blatant one-sided, Islamocentric bias and lack of Scholarship.

Any additional comments?

AVOID this book.

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55 people found this helpful

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  • Ryan Hobbs
  • 2017-03-27

Solid and objective history with minor innacuracie

Really good, with well researched and objective content. However, there are a few small problems. The author gets the characteristics of European arms and armor completely wrong. He says that mail was very poor armor, when in fact it is very effective, taking tremendously powerful hits and keeping the wearer safe. His view of European swords is also wrong, viewing them as crowbars rather than the agile weapons they truly are. This shows a disturbing lack of personal research of the primary sources. All one has to do is read contemporary accounts and handle accurate reproductions to know how wrong this segment was.
Also, the author consistently mentions different units of currency throughout the book but with no comparison of the currency or what a unit of the currency was worth. This information might be in the physical book.

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43 people found this helpful

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  • Rick
  • 2016-09-08

A Thorough Look

A very interesting listen. Nice job connecting the history of the Crusades with other events going on, both at the time of the Crusades as well as since.

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38 people found this helpful

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  • Alnico Cunife
  • 2018-05-20

Get an old map

I really enjoyed this book!. I did need an old (Time/year specific) map to really understand where the countries/cities were and their relationships to where people traveled. The first few hours of listening were a little difficult as the names were 'new" to my ears. After reviewing a map and understanding the names the book became a GREAT listen. Understanding who and why from most sides of 200+ years of Duking (pun intended) it out. We really never learn from the past, just relive it thinking we are better and smarter. I am glad I did not live beck then as life was very much harder than listening to true stories on a cruise ship.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • buttercup
  • 2018-04-14

not objective history

This book is anti-western revisionist history. The author of this book clearly picked a favorite side and did not tell the history of the age of battle in a subjective way

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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Ethan
  • 2017-11-30

Informative but vague on details.

Great if you want a series of events with a timeline but lacks in depth events and detail. I also felt the author was bias in his opinions on certain events against the Latin crusaders. It came off more as a history and evolution of Islam and the Middle East during the crusades rather than a History of the Crusades.

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23 people found this helpful

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  • Mario D
  • 2023-09-20

A great history books on the Crusades

I was looking for a book that allowed me to brush up on the history of the Crusades. This clearly hit the spot. As other commentators mentioned some elements could be developed more in depth such as non-Middle Eastern Crusades or warfare equipment. And it couldn't hurt to have a map at the ready when listening for the first time.

Otherwise, the author really paints a vivid picture of a complex political landscape, both on the Crusaders and Muslim sides. This is what the book mostly is about: politics and warfare as its continuation. As announced in the introduction, the book tries to more details about the Muslim side, to avoid describing the Muslim forces as a monolithic ensemble.

Regarding the "pro-Muslim" and "anti-Bush" comments, I feel this was a bit unfair to the author. He often depicts leaders's manipulations and warfare horrors coming from both sides during this series of conflicts. The final section is not about President G.W. Bush only, but about what the Crusades turned into for both Western and Eastern cultures and how the term was used for propaganda on both sides during the early 2000's.

All in all, a solid history book to obtain a "big picture" kind of view on the subject, and the narrator is doing a great job. Would recommend it to anyone interested in the topic without being a specialist.

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