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Rating: 
Summary: Classic and Comprehensive, Readable and Enjoyable
Review: For an expert or someone not well-versed in the Crusades, there might not be a better resource than Steven Runciman's three-volume history of the Crusades. Volume one relates the origins of the Crusades, and Runciman also provides very interesting overview of Christian history in the process of describing the relationship of the Church in the east to Muslims and Jews. In doing so, the reader is impressed by the complexity of relations between the three major faiths that lay claim to the Holy Land, and how the complexity of these relations is not a new phenomenon. If anything, Volume One suggests that, freed from outside pressures, the "people of the book" can coexist. Runciman also conveys the human dynamic aspect of the early Crusades that might be lost. The relationships between the hermits and clergy that spawned the first crusade, the competition (of sorts) between the Frankish and German lords, their confrontations with Byzantine authorities (both ecclesiastical and secular) and those of the Middle East were the real drivers of the Crusades. In understanding how these human interactions developed and played out, the reader can better trace the ebb and flow of the cause-effect of actions and reactions that shaped the Crusades.
Rating:
Summary: Classic and Comprehensive, Readable and Enjoyable
Review: For an expert or someone not well-versed in the Crusades, there might not be a better resource than Steven Runciman's three-volume history of the Crusades. Volume one relates the origins of the Crusades, and Runciman also provides very interesting overview of Christian history in the process of describing the relationship of the Church in the east to Muslims and Jews. In doing so, the reader is impressed by the complexity of relations between the three major faiths that lay claim to the Holy Land, and how the complexity of these relations is not a new phenomenon. If anything, Volume One suggests that, freed from outside pressures, the "people of the book" can coexist. Runciman also conveys the human dynamic aspect of the early Crusades that might be lost. The relationships between the hermits and clergy that spawned the first crusade, the competition (of sorts) between the Frankish and German lords, their confrontations with Byzantine authorities (both ecclesiastical and secular) and those of the Middle East were the real drivers of the Crusades. In understanding how these human interactions developed and played out, the reader can better trace the ebb and flow of the cause-effect of actions and reactions that shaped the Crusades.
Rating: 
Summary: Historical as well as Romantic
Review: Steven Runciman is well noted for his three-volume 'History of the Crusades' published in 1951. This paperback edition is an abridged excerpt of that work that focuses on specifically the First Crusade. This is a much 'romanticized' narration of the First Crusades, as Mr. Runciman is well known for inscribing his passion for this event into his work. But do not let that stop you from reading this account. Mr. Runciman has added detail to this volume using quotes from actual chroniclers of the time to build and augment his story. This abridged paperback gives you contemporary descriptions of the political climate, the backgrounds of the main players, overviews of many of the campaigns and battles of the event and weaves it all into an interesting story filled with zealots, nobility, passion, intrigue and fire. Reading this you can easily get swept into the spiritual fervor and single minded determination that these people must have had. You also feel the impact of the battles and massacres in his descriptions of the sieges and taking of the various cities. Mr. Runciman does a very good job of making sure the reader becomes involved in the details of events as the Crusaders storm through the Holy Land to the city of Jerusalem. There is no bibliography in the volume I have nor are there any pictures or maps. The 'Introductory Note' states 'The book is published without reference notes nor a bibliography. If readers wish to consult the sources, primary and secondary, on which my account is based, may I refer them to the original work, in which a full apparatus criticus is provided? A recent edition is still in print.' For a very well written and passionate account of the First Crusade this book will provide a good read as well as an historical overview of the event.
medievalcrusadesbabe
Rating:
Summary: Historical as well as Romantic
Review: Steven Runciman is well noted for his three-volume 'History of the Crusades' published in 1951. This paperback edition is an abridged excerpt of that work that focuses on specifically the First Crusade. This is a much 'romanticized' narration of the First Crusades, as Mr. Runciman is well known for inscribing his passion for this event into his work. But do not let that stop you from reading this account. Mr. Runciman has added detail to this volume using quotes from actual chroniclers of the time to build and augment his story. This abridged paperback gives you contemporary descriptions of the political climate, the backgrounds of the main players, overviews of many of the campaigns and battles of the event and weaves it all into an interesting story filled with zealots, nobility, passion, intrigue and fire. Reading this you can easily get swept into the spiritual fervor and single minded determination that these people must have had. You also feel the impact of the battles and massacres in his descriptions of the sieges and taking of the various cities. Mr. Runciman does a very good job of making sure the reader becomes involved in the details of events as the Crusaders storm through the Holy Land to the city of Jerusalem. There is no bibliography in the volume I have nor are there any pictures or maps. The 'Introductory Note' states 'The book is published without reference notes nor a bibliography. If readers wish to consult the sources, primary and secondary, on which my account is based, may I refer them to the original work, in which a full apparatus criticus is provided? A recent edition is still in print.' For a very well written and passionate account of the First Crusade this book will provide a good read as well as an historical overview of the event.
medievalcrusadesbabe
Rating:
Summary: Good survey, beautiful book
Review: This abridgement couples Runciman's well narrated and concise account of the First Crusade with some beautiful illustrations of the Holy Land, medieval warfare, and Byzantine, Latin, and Muslim art. It is a shame, however, that amongst all these wonderful illustrations, there is not one detailed map of the Holy Land and Asia Minor. Still, the book is well worth having and reading. If you haven't already read the unabridged edition you may want to read that as well.
Rating:
Summary: Good survey, beautiful book
Review: This abridgement couples Runciman's well narrated and concise account of the First Crusade with some beautiful illustrations of the Holy Land, medieval warfare, and Byzantine, Latin, and Muslim art. It is a shame, however, that amongst all these wonderful illustrations, there is not one detailed map of the Holy Land and Asia Minor. Still, the book is well worth having and reading. If you haven't already read the unabridged edition you may want to read that as well.
Rating:
Summary: down to earth description of motives and moves
Review: This Canto abridged version gives in nearly 200 pages a good account of the motives of the "west" to start the crusades, the reasons why the Byzantines agreed, the very indivual human motives of the kings, popes, clergyman, nobles, and poor. It also spells out what it takes to get (mostly on foot) from France to Jerusalem, with a large mass of poorly prepared people. A fascinating account. If you have romantic ideas about the crusades they will have been replaced by solid facts out of the everydays crusaders lives at the end of this book. You'll have a better grasp of this era as a whole, and the place of the crusades in it. Sometimes there are more scholary details offered then I really need in an abridged version. But it still is a good read, that offers you the flavor, the look and feel, of the past.
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