God's War: A New History of the Crusades
At long last: a new comprehensive treatment to replace dated views of the crusades. Don't miss God's War, by Christopher Tyerman, if you have an interest in the subject. From Harvard University Press:
"A stunning reinterpretation of the Crusades, revealed as both bloody political acts and a manifestation of a growing Christian communal identity. Tyerman uncovers a system of belief bound by aggression, paranoia, and wishful thinking, and a culture founded on war as an expression of worship, social discipline, and Christian charity... Drawing on all of the most recent scholarship, and told with great verve and authority, God's War is the definitive account of a fascinating and horrifying story that continues to haunt our contemporary world."And from Publisher's Weekly (via amazon):
"Tyerman demolishes our simplistic misconceptions... Abjuring sentimentality and avoiding clichés about a rapacious West and an innocent East, Tyerman focuses on the crusades' very human paradoxes: 'the inspirational idealism; utopianism armed with myopia; the elaborate, sincere intolerance; the diversity and complexity of motive and performance'... God's War is that very rare thing: a readable and vivid history written with the support of a formidable scholarly background, and it deserves to reach a wide audience."See previous posts on the crusades in context here and here.
posted by Loren Rosson III @ 10/28/2006
4 Comments:
This book, and two others, on the subject of the Crusades, was reviewed in the New York Times all of 18 months ago ( April 3 2005 )
Maurice A. O'Sullivan
That was a different (and much shorter) book by Tyerman: Fighting for Christendom: Holy War and the Crusades. This one is a monumental achievement.
Finding that the negative descriptions of Christians past and the positive casting of all things Islam, ran counter to what we were all witnessing on a daily basis. I went searching to discover why so much of history has been distorted and falsely revised. I was fascinated upon discovering the Frankfurt School of Cultural Marxism. Their simple idea was that the future can be shaped if history is re-written. They focused primarily on academics and the media.
Finding that the negative descriptions of Christians past and the positive casting of all things Islam, ran counter to what we were all witnessing on a daily basis. I went searching to discover why so much of history has been distorted and falsely revised. I was fascinated upon discovering the Frankfurt School of Cultural Marxism. Their simple idea was that the future can be shaped if history is re-written. They focused primarily on academics and the media.
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