The Last Crusaders: The Great Siege

Download The Last Crusaders: The Great Siege PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Orion
ISBN 13 : 1409147649
Total Pages : 487 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (91 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Last Crusaders: The Great Siege by : William Napier

Download or read book The Last Crusaders: The Great Siege written by William Napier and published by Orion. This book was released on 2013-06-06 with total page 487 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The siege of Malta: A brutal combat. A test of courage. A battle that will change history. Previously published as CLASH OF EMPIRES: THE GREAT SIEGE. 1565: a small island in the middle of the Mediterranean stands gatekeeper between East and West. It is about to become the scene for one of the most powerful stories of bravery, battle and bloodlust: the siege of Malta. Formed in the Holy Land in the 11th century, a small band of knights had long sought a home. Driven from their lands by Ottoman might, they came to rest in Malta from where they watched the Turks and corsairs raid the Spanish empire. As word came from Constantinople that Malta was in the sights of the Ottoman Empire, all of Europe watched a force of over 30,000 men besieged the island - peopled by 500 knights and a few thousand local soldiers. On that small rock an epic struggle will be played out - the story of individual men, warriors and slaves, but also the story of two worlds colliding.

The Great Siege, Malta 1565

Download The Great Siege, Malta 1565 PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Open Road Media
ISBN 13 : 1497617308
Total Pages : 278 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (976 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Great Siege, Malta 1565 by : Ernle Bradford

Download or read book The Great Siege, Malta 1565 written by Ernle Bradford and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2014-04-01 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The indispensable account of the Ottoman Empire’s Siege of Malta from the author of Hannibal and Gibraltar. In the first half of the sixteenth century, the Ottoman Empire was thought to be invincible. Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman sultan, had expanded his empire from western Asia to southeastern Europe and North Africa. To secure control of the Mediterranean between these territories and launch an offensive into western Europe, Suleiman needed the small but strategically crucial island of Malta. But Suleiman’s attempt to take the island from the Holy Roman Empire’s Knights of St. John would emerge as one of the most famous and brutal military defeats in history. Forty-two years earlier, Suleiman had been victorious against the Knights of St. John when he drove them out of their island fortress at Rhodes. Believing he would repeat this victory, the sultan sent an armada to Malta. When they captured Fort St. Elmo, the Ottoman forces ruthlessly took no prisoners. The Roman grand master La Vallette responded by having his Ottoman captives beheaded. Then the battle for Malta began in earnest: no quarter asked, none given. Ernle Bradford’s compelling and thoroughly researched account of the Great Siege of Malta recalls not just an epic battle, but a clash of civilizations unlike anything since the time of Alexander the Great. It is “a superior, readable treatment of an important but little-discussed epic from the Renaissance past . . . An astonishing tale” (Kirkus Reviews).

The Siege of Jerusalem

Download The Siege of Jerusalem PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1441126759
Total Pages : 326 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (411 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Siege of Jerusalem by : Conor Kostick

Download or read book The Siege of Jerusalem written by Conor Kostick and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2011-09-01 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of the final battle of the First Crusade The most extraordinary siege in medieval history began with the arrival of a Christian army at Jerusalem on the dawn of Tuesday, 6 June, 1099. Other sieges may have lasted longer, involved greater numbers of troops, and deployed more siege engines but nothing else in the entire medieval period compares to the extraordinary journey that the besiegers had made to get to their goal and the heady religious enthusiasm among the troops. This was the culmination of the First crusade, a military pilgrimage that had seen hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children leave their homes in Western Europe, march for three years over thousands of miles, and undergo tremendous hardship to reach their longed-for goal: Jerusalem. No other medieval army had made such a journey and no other army had such a peculiar makeup. There were hundreds of unattached poor women, gathered from the margins of Northern French towns by the charity of the charismatic preacher, Peter the hermit, and given a new direction in their lives through the expedition to Jerusalem. There were farmers who had sold their land and homes, put all their belongings in two-wheeled carts, and marched alongside their oxen. Bards came and earned their keep by composing songs about the events they were witnessing, from songs about the heroic charges of the nobles to bawdy satires on the lax behavior of some of the senior clergy. Naturally, knights and foot soldiers were at the heart of the fighting forces, but even here there was a strange fluidity to the army, with the status of a warrior rising or falling depending on his ability to keep his horse alive and his armor in good order. The Siege of Jerusalem offers a vivid and engaging account of the events of that siege; the key figures, the turning points, the spiritual beliefs of the participants, the deep political rivalries, and the massacre of the inhabitants, which left such a deep scar in the horrified imagination of those who learned about it, that it still evokes passionate feelings nearly a thousand years later.

The Pythons

Download The Pythons PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Macmillan
ISBN 13 : 9780312311452
Total Pages : 408 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (114 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Pythons by : Monthy Python

Download or read book The Pythons written by Monthy Python and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2005-11-15 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Personal ancedotes, humorous reminiscences, and more than 1,000 photographs and illustrations celebrate the comedy troupe's thirty-fourth anniversary.

Siege of Acre, 1189-1191

Download Siege of Acre, 1189-1191 PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 0300235356
Total Pages : 279 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (2 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Siege of Acre, 1189-1191 by : John D. Hosler

Download or read book Siege of Acre, 1189-1191 written by John D. Hosler and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2018-06-26 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first comprehensive history of the most decisive military campaign of the Third Crusade and one of the longest wartime sieges of the Middle Ages The two-year-long siege of Acre (1189–1191) was the most significant military engagement of the Third Crusade, attracting armies from across Europe, Syria, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Maghreb. Drawing on a balanced selection of Christian and Muslim sources, historian John D. Hosler has written the first book-length account of this hard-won victory for the Crusaders, when England’s Richard the Lionheart and King Philip Augustus of France joined forces to defeat the Egyptian Sultan Saladin. Hosler’s lively and engrossing narrative integrates military, political, and religious themes and developments, offers new perspectives on the generals, and provides a full analysis of the tactical, strategic, organizational, and technological aspects on both sides of the conflict. It is the epic story of a monumental confrontation that was the centerpiece of a Holy War in which many thousands fought and died in the name of Christ or Allah.

The Great Siege of Malta

Download The Great Siege of Malta PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University Press of New England
ISBN 13 : 1611688434
Total Pages : 354 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (116 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Great Siege of Malta by : Bruce Ware Allen

Download or read book The Great Siege of Malta written by Bruce Ware Allen and published by University Press of New England. This book was released on 2015-10-22 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the spring of 1565, a massive fleet of Ottoman ships descended on Malta, a small island centrally located between North Africa and Sicily, home and headquarters of the crusading Knights of St. John and their charismatic Grand Master, Jean de Valette. The Knights had been expelled from Rhodes by the Ottoman sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent, and now stood as the last bastion against a Muslim invasion of Sicily, southern Italy, and beyond. The siege force of Turks, Arabs, and Barbary corsairs from across the Muslim world outnumbered the defenders of Malta many times over, and its arrival began a long hot summer of bloody combat, often hand to hand, embroiling knights and mercenaries, civilians and slaves, in a desperate struggle for this pivotal point in the Mediterranean. Bruce Ware Allen's The Great Siege of Malta describes the siege's geopolitical context, explains its strategies and tactics, and reveals how the all-too-human personalities of both Muslim and Christian leaders shaped the course of events. The siege of Malta was the Ottoman empire's high-water mark in the war between the Christian West and the Muslim East for control of the Mediterranean. Drawing on copious research and new source material, Allen stirringly recreates the two factions' heroism and chivalry, while simultaneously tracing the barbarism, severity, and indifference to suffering of sixteenth-century warfare. The Great Siege of Malta is a fresh, vivid retelling of one of the most famous battles of the early modern world - a battle whose echoes are still felt today.

Accursed Tower

Download Accursed Tower PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 0300248857
Total Pages : 301 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (2 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Accursed Tower by : Roger Crowley

Download or read book Accursed Tower written by Roger Crowley and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2019-11-19 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The city of Acre, powerfully fortified and richly provisioned, was the last crusader stronghold. When it fell in 1291, two hundred years of Christian crusading in the Holy Land came to a bloody end. With his customary narrative brilliance and immediacy, Roger Crowley chronicles the tumultuous and violent attack on Acre, the heaviest bombardment before the age of gunpowder, which left this once great Mediterranean city a crumbling ruin.The ‘Accursed Tower’ was the focal point of this siege. As the last garrison of the Crusader defences, it came to symbolise the disintegration of the old world and the rise of a new era of Islamic jihad. Crowley’s narrative is based on forensic research, drawing heavily on little known first hand sources, both Christian and Arabic. This is a fast-paced and gripping account of a pivotal moment in world history.

Siege of Heaven

Download Siege of Heaven PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Random House
ISBN 13 : 1409065529
Total Pages : 642 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (9 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Siege of Heaven by : Tom Harper

Download or read book Siege of Heaven written by Tom Harper and published by Random House. This book was released on 2010-04-30 with total page 642 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you love Conn Iggulden, Lindsey Davis and Steven Pressfield, you will love this breathtaking historical adventure, brimming with murder, betrayal, bloodshed and romance, from the pen of prizewinning author Tom Harper. 'Harper's portrayal of Byzantium and the intrigues that threaten its destruction is vivid and convincing.' -- Sunday Times 'Harper effortlessly draws the reader into an unfamiliar time bringing alive the characters and their motivations' -- Publisher's Weekly 'A must read' -- ***** Reader review 'Superb read. Thoroughly enjoyed it' -- ***** Reader review 'A real joy to read. Keeps you wanting to read more, griping and exciting right to the end'-- ***** Reader review ******************************************************************* BETRAYAL AND BLOODSHED. WHO WILL CONQUER? August, 1098: after countless battles and sieges, the surviving soldiers of the first crusade are at last within reach of their ultimate goal - Jerusalem. But rivalries fester and new enemies are massing against them in the Holy Land. Demetrios Askiates, the Emperor's spy, has had enough of the crusade's violence and hypocrisy and longs to return home. But when a routine diplomatic mission leads to a deadly ambush, he realises he has been snared in the vast power struggles which underlie the crusade. The only way out now leads through the Holy City. From the plague-bound city of Antioch to the heart of Muslim Egypt, Demetrios must accompany the army of warlords and fanatics to the very gates of Jerusalem. But what awaits him there is an apocalypse of pillage, bloodshed and slaughter...Who will be the victor? Siege of Heaven ends the Crusade trilogy. Have you read The Mosaic of Shadows and Knights of the Cross?

Empires of the Sea

Download Empires of the Sea PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Random House
ISBN 13 : 1588367339
Total Pages : 378 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (883 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Empires of the Sea by : Roger Crowley

Download or read book Empires of the Sea written by Roger Crowley and published by Random House. This book was released on 2008-07-01 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1521, Suleiman the Magnificent, Muslim ruler of the Ottoman Empire at the height of its power, dispatched an invasion fleet to the Christian island of Rhodes. This would prove to be the opening shot in an epic struggle between rival empires and faiths for control of the Mediterranean and the center of the world. In Empires of the Sea, acclaimed historian Roger Crowley has written his most mesmerizing work to date–a thrilling account of this brutal decades-long battle between Christendom and Islam for the soul of Europe, a fast-paced tale of spiraling intensity that ranges from Istanbul to the Gates of Gibraltar and features a cast of extraordinary characters: Barbarossa, “The King of Evil,” the pirate who terrified Europe; the risk-taking Emperor Charles V; the Knights of St. John, the last crusading order after the passing of the Templars; the messianic Pope Pius V; and the brilliant Christian admiral Don Juan of Austria. This struggle’s brutal climax came between 1565 and 1571, seven years that witnessed a fight to the finish decided in a series of bloody set pieces: the epic siege of Malta, in which a tiny band of Christian defenders defied the might of the Ottoman army; the savage battle for Cyprus; and the apocalyptic last-ditch defense of southern Europe at Lepanto–one of the single most shocking days in world history. At the close of this cataclysmic naval encounter, the carnage was so great that the victors could barely sail away “because of the countless corpses floating in the sea.” Lepanto fixed the frontiers of the Mediterranean world that we know today. Roger Crowley conjures up a wild cast of pirates, crusaders, and religious warriors struggling for supremacy and survival in a tale of slavery and galley warfare, desperate bravery and utter brutality, technology and Inca gold. Empires of the Sea is page-turning narrative history at its best–a story of extraordinary color and incident, rich in detail, full of surprises, and backed by a wealth of eyewitness accounts. It provides a crucial context for our own clash of civilizations.

The Great Betrayal

Download The Great Betrayal PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Open Road Media
ISBN 13 : 1497625688
Total Pages : 95 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (976 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Great Betrayal by : Ernle Bradford

Download or read book The Great Betrayal written by Ernle Bradford and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2014-04-01 with total page 95 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An engrossing chronicle of the Fourth Crusade and the fall of the Holy Roman Empire, from the bestselling author of Thermopylae. At the dawn of the thirteenth century, Constantinople stood as the bastion of Christianity in Eastern Europe. The capital city of the Byzantine Empire, it was a center of art, culture, and commerce that had commanded trading routes between Asia, Russia, and Europe for hundreds of years. But in 1204, the city suffered a devastating attack that would spell the end of the Holy Roman Empire. The army of the Fourth Crusade had set out to reclaim Jerusalem, but under the sway of their Venetian patrons, the crusaders diverted from their path in order to lay siege to Constantinople. With longstanding tensions between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, the crusaders set arms against their Christian neighbors, destroying a vital alliance between Eastern and Western Rome. In The Great Betrayal, historian Ernle Bradford brings to life this powerful tale of envy and greed, demonstrating the far-reaching consequences this siege would have across Europe for centuries to come.

The Siege of Rhodes

Download The Siege of Rhodes PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Vertical Inc
ISBN 13 : 1949980952
Total Pages : 166 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (499 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Siege of Rhodes by : Nanami Shiono

Download or read book The Siege of Rhodes written by Nanami Shiono and published by Vertical Inc. This book was released on 2020-06-30 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Knighthood's Final Hour? By the early sixteenth century, Rhodes, the "Isle of Blossoming Roses," had become a thorne in the Ottoman Empire's side. Located only eleven miles from the coast of Asia Minor, the island was controlled by the Order of the Knights of St. John (later known as the Knights of Malta), former crusaders who by then had two specialties: tending to ailing Christians and pirating Muslim ships. In 1522, Sultan Suleiman I resolved to put an end to it and unleashed a force of a hundred thousand troops to beseige the island. Rhodes's proximity to Ottoman territory ensured that the Turkish soldiers would be well armed, well fed, and quickly replaced if killed or injured. Facing them was a force of only six hundred knights, fifteen hundred mercanaries and three thousand native Rhodians. In this, the second installment in The East Mediterranean Trilogy, Nanami Shiono weaves another rich and fascinating narrative around a key battle between Islam and Christendom. An inspiring portrait of nobility and courage in the face of overwhelming odds, it also offers a rare glimpse into the history of one of the most important knightly orders, one that helped establish the tradition of medical care in the West as we know it today.

The Last Crusaders: Blood Red Sea

Download The Last Crusaders: Blood Red Sea PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Orion
ISBN 13 : 1409147630
Total Pages : 447 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (91 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Last Crusaders: Blood Red Sea by : William Napier

Download or read book The Last Crusaders: Blood Red Sea written by William Napier and published by Orion. This book was released on 2013-07-18 with total page 447 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two unlikely English heroes are swept up in an epic and bloody sea battle that will change history. PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED AS CLASH OF EMPIRES: THE RED SEA. 1571. Chained to a slave galley in the heart of the Mediterranean, it seems that English adventurers Ingoldsby and Hodge might have finally run out of luck. But as former Knights of St John, they've survived worse, and while the men around them drop dead at their oars, they're determined to escape. By a miracle of fate, they find their way back to dry land and freedom - but unable to return home. With the Ottoman Empire set on strangling the crusading Christian power before it can take root, hostilities between East and West - Muslim and Christian - are vicious and deadly. And as the sun rises on one day in October, five hours of bloodshed will change the course of history. Once again, the two Englishmen find themselves living on borrowed time... PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED AS CLASH OF EMPIRES: THE RED SEA

The Last Crusaders

Download The Last Crusaders PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Abrams
ISBN 13 : 1468302884
Total Pages : 480 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (683 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Last Crusaders by : Barnaby Rogerson

Download or read book The Last Crusaders written by Barnaby Rogerson and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2011-03-29 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The acclaimed Medieval historian examines how the crusades of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries reshaped the Mediterranean and influenced the globe. In the late Middle Ages, the forces of Christianity engaged in a series of epic battles with the Ottoman Empire. Though these later crusades are often overshadowed by earlier conflicts, they hold profound historical significance. They were the bridge between the medieval and modern periods, between feudalism and colonialism. The Last Crusaders is about this period’s last great conflict between East and West. From the great naval campaigns and the ferocious struggle to dominate the North African shore, the hostility spread along trade routes, consuming nations and cultures, destroying dynasties, and spawning the first colonial empires in South America and the Indian Ocean. “Rogerson's narrative colors the conflicts of the sixteenth century with the derring-do of kings, corsair, and crusaders; this book will keep readers up long past bedtime.” —Foreword Magazine

The Last Crusaders: Ivan the Terrible

Download The Last Crusaders: Ivan the Terrible PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Orion
ISBN 13 : 1409105393
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (91 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Last Crusaders: Ivan the Terrible by : William Napier

Download or read book The Last Crusaders: Ivan the Terrible written by William Napier and published by Orion. This book was released on 2014-07-31 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hardened by battle, seasoned by war, four adventurers caught in the path of one of history's most enigmatic leaders. 1571. At the great naval battle of Lepanto the Ottoman Empire is finally defeated, and it seems that Europe is safe. But then Nicholas Ingoldsby is summoned to London by the Queen herself and sent on a diplomatic mission to Constantinople, the heart of the old enemy - and then onward, to a little-known but rising power called Muscovy, ruled by a deranged but cunning czar - Ivan the Terrible. The rise of Muscovy has also caught the attention of the Ottomans; and their allies, the wild Tatar horsemen of the Asiatic steppes, Russia's ancient enemy. Soon Nicholas and his fellow travellers are caught up in their most dangerous adventure yet, trapped in a doomed Muscovy with a vast army of Tatar tribesmen riding down upon them, vowed to burn the city to the ground and extinguish Russia for ever...

Clash of Empires: The Great Siege

Download Clash of Empires: The Great Siege PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Orion
ISBN 13 : 1409105334
Total Pages : 394 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (91 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Clash of Empires: The Great Siege by : William Napier

Download or read book Clash of Empires: The Great Siege written by William Napier and published by Orion. This book was released on 2011-06-09 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A brutal combat. A test of courage. A battle that will change history. 1565: a small island in the middle of the Mediterranean stands gatekeeper between East and West. It is about to become the scene for one of the most amazing stories of bravery, battle and bloodlust: the siege of Malta. Formed in the Holy Land in the 11th century, a small band of knights had long sought a home. Driven from their lands by Ottoman might, they came to rest in Malta from where they watched the Turks and corsairs raid the Spanish empire. As word came from Constantinople that Malta was in the sights of the Ottoman Empire, all of Europe watched as a force of over 30,000 men besieged the island - itself only peopled by only 500 knights and a few thousand local soldiers. On that small rock an epic struggle will be played out - the story of individual men, warriors and slaves, but also the story of two worlds colliding.

The Last Crusaders: Blood Red Sea

Download The Last Crusaders: Blood Red Sea PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Hachette UK
ISBN 13 : 1409147630
Total Pages : 447 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (91 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Last Crusaders: Blood Red Sea by : William Napier

Download or read book The Last Crusaders: Blood Red Sea written by William Napier and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2013-07-18 with total page 447 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two unlikely English heroes are swept up in an epic and bloody sea battle that will change history. PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED AS CLASH OF EMPIRES: THE RED SEA. 1571. Chained to a slave galley in the heart of the Mediterranean, it seems that English adventurers Ingoldsby and Hodge might have finally run out of luck. But as former Knights of St John, they've survived worse, and while the men around them drop dead at their oars, they're determined to escape. By a miracle of fate, they find their way back to dry land and freedom - but unable to return home. With the Ottoman Empire set on strangling the crusading Christian power before it can take root, hostilities between East and West - Muslim and Christian - are vicious and deadly. And as the sun rises on one day in October, five hours of bloodshed will change the course of history. Once again, the two Englishmen find themselves living on borrowed time... PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED AS CLASH OF EMPIRES: THE RED SEA

Controversial Histories – Current Views on the Crusades

Download Controversial Histories – Current Views on the Crusades PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 0429620691
Total Pages : 120 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (296 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Controversial Histories – Current Views on the Crusades by : Felix Hinz

Download or read book Controversial Histories – Current Views on the Crusades written by Felix Hinz and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-05-18 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Engaging the Crusades is a series of volumes which offer windows into a newly-emerging field of historical study: the memory and legacy of the Crusades. Together these volumes examine the reasons behind the enduring resonance of the Crusades and present the memory of crusading in the modern period as a productive, exciting and much needed area of investigation. Controversial Histories assembles current international views on the Crusades from across Europe, Russia, Turkey, the USA and the Near and Middle East. Historians from the related countries present short narratives that deal with two questions: What were the Crusades? and What do they mean to "us" today? Narratives are from one of possible several "typical" points of view of the related country and present an international comparison of the dominant image of each respective historical culture and cultures of remembrance. Bringing together ‘victim perspectives’ and ‘perpetrator perspectives’, ‘key players’ and ‘minor players’, they reveal both shared and conflicting memories of different groups. The narratives are framed by an introduction about the historical and political significance of the Crusades, and the question of history education in a globalized world with contradicting narratives is discussed, along with guidelines on how to use the book for teaching at university level. Offering extensive material and presenting a profile of international, academic opinions on the Crusades, Controversial Histories is the ideal resource for students and educators of Crusades history in a global context as well as military history and the history of memory.