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ratings: ★★★★★ (5/5)
Genre: History / Medieval History / Crusades / Military History

Book Review:
Thomas Asbridge's The First Crusade is quite simply the best single-volume history of this epic, world-changing event that I have ever read. It is a masterpiece of scholarly rigor and narrative flair. Asbridge takes one of the most famous—and most misunderstood—chapters of medieval history and makes it feel fresh, immediate, and profoundly human. He tells the story of the tens of thousands of Christians who, in 1095, heeded the call to Holy War and embarked on a four-year journey of unimaginable hardship to recapture Jerusalem from Islam. We follow them through starvation, disease, and bloody battle. We see them at their most heroic and their most barbaric. Asbridge draws extensively on first-hand accounts, giving us a disarmingly diverse picture of the crusaders—their faith, their fears, their cruelty, and their courage. The Guardian calls it ''a taut, clear and exciting narrative'' that conveys ''the best of modern Crusader scholarship.'' The Financial Times says it's ''stunning.'' The Sunday Telegraph finds it ''exhilarating.'' I can only agree. If you want to understand the Crusades—and their long, tragic legacy—this is the book to read. Essential.