[whitebelly]

As an aside to the thread where we discuss historical fiction in general...

I'd like to have your recommendations on books on the crusades, primarily historical fiction (not romance), though thoroughly researched and well-written non-fiction would go down just as well.

Thanks

[saintjon]

Uhh, Pillars of the Earth takes place during the crusades but is focused on England, so it doesn't fit your criteria very well. Still, I can't think of a better medeival historical fiction novel.

[Llama]

Try Evan Connell's Deus Lo Volt. I haven't read it but I hear it's very good.

[whitebelly]

txs saintjon & llama,

re "deus lo volt" I checked on amazon.com - reviews there were mixed because of the very peculiar "recitation" style & absence of dialogue. I'm intrigued.

Mithfânion, I take it you would recommend Lawhead's Celtic Crusades trilogy ;)
wb

[Mithfânion]

"Not sure I would actually, I hear it's not very good", he retorted many years later, but still present ;)

Deus lo Volt has been mentioned. Tom Harper is a new name writing books on the Crusades. There's also "The Booke of Days" and Michael Eisner's The Crusader.

[FicusFan]

The Crusades by Zoe Oldenbourg. It was originally published in 1965 in France (in French). The translation was published in the US in 1966. It is still in print (2001), and covers the first 3 crusades. It is still well thought of, but of course missing out any new ideas or discoveries that pertain to the history of the first 3 crusades discovered or developed after 1965. Don't know if there is any kind of update in the current ones, mine is a 1967 version.

[Ward]

Harold Lamb wrote a two volume history of the crusades that is very readable and accessable to the beginner, and reads like a novel. Lamb always put the 'story' first in the telling of history, he's a great populaizer. the books are called 'Crusades: Iron Men and Saints', and 'Crusades:the Flame of Islam.'

Robert Payne's 'The Dream and the Tomb' is also very good.

[Duanawitch]

Uhh, Pillars of the Earth takes place during the crusades but is focused on England, so it doesn't fit your criteria very well. Still, I can't think of a better medeival historical fiction novel.

I really disliked Pillars of the Earth. :( In fact I just couldn't get through it at all; 70 pages in and I had to hand it over to the nearest charity shop. (I picked it up originally because it made such a surprise showing in the BBC's Big Read.) Follett's narrative voice was like a lead hammer, pounding out historical facts (with a great deal of anachronism) but utterly failing to capture emotional or psychological subtleties. My area of study is 12th and 13th century England, so I don't have a problem with the material just the delivery. Och. :(

I can't think of any other fictional recommendations though. There are some excellent narrative historys... I particularly like Terry Jone's take in "The Crusades". :)

[Mithfânion]

I've been interested in that book but feared it might be overly comical. Any thoughts on that?

[Duanawitch]

It is quite comical, but Terry Jones is a surprisingly good historian. Although he delivers his facts in the usual sardonic style (and with a pinch of drama) he's nearly always got a balanced view of things. In general I've got very little respect for TV history (not because its on TV, but because it nearly always misleads or fails to show various viewpoints), and Terry Jones is an unusual exception.

If the humour puts you off then I'd recommend either Thomas Asbridge's The First Crusade , which is excellent, or Jonathan Riley Smith's Oxford History of the Crusades. Amin Malouf's The Crusades Through Arab Eyes is a good collection of views from the other side. :)