The First Crusaders, 1095-1131

Rating:
Summary: An informational book
Review: This book is very informative. It not bias and shares both points of view on many issues. The way the book is organized is appropiate for the books content. The dates are clear and very accurate. I enjoyed reading and using this book for reasearch because the text was interesting to read. I feel this is an easy bok to read in that the catogories are very clear. This book could be enjoyed by people of all ages and levels. Wether this is your first time studying the crusades or your 100th I feel this is a great book.

Rating:
Summary: Well written and thoroughly researched
Review: This book provides a balanced and very well researched account of the men and women who participated in the First Crusade. From the amount of information that Riley-Smith includes in this work, it is clear that he really knows his stuff. Sometimes the detailed accounts of the crusader's lives is a little hard to slog through, but it definitely helps support his argument. I would have liked a more general overview of the First Crusade towards the beginning of the work. I don't know much about the history of the Crusades, and I had to piece together the sequence of events as Riley-Smith mentioned them throughout his work. But besides this complaint, the book was a good read.