THE CRUSADES

This book is valuable for its careful and precise treatment of the background of the Crusades -- an outline of the religious split between Rome and Constantinople, the Moslem invasion of the Holy Land, the forces existing in Europe that would respond to Pope Urban II's call for a crusade. The tragic and often heroic stories of Richard the Lionhearted, St. Louis of France and the Knights Templar -- in the context of the crusade movement rather than as individual incidents-are handled with the insight and humanity that has often been missing in this controversial era of history.