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The Way of the Crusades
Opening with the thunderous Norman Conquest of England in 1066 -- thirty years before the First Crusade -- this is the story of the vivid, colorful, and violent 200-year struggle of the Christians to crush the infidel in the Holy Land.
- GenresHistory
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1962
37 people want to read
About the author
Jay Williams
154 books41 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Jay Williams (May 31, 1914–July 12, 1978) was an American author born in Buffalo, New York, the son of Max and Lillian Jacobson. He cited the experience of growing up as the son of a vaudeville show producer as leading him to pursue his acting career as early as college. Between 1931 and 1934 he attended the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University where he took part in amateur theatrical productions.
Out of school and out of work during the end of the Depression, he worked as a comedian on the upstate New York Borscht Belt circuit. From 1936 until 1941, Jay Williams worked as a press agent for Dwight Deere Winman, Jed Harris and the Hollywood Theatre Alliance. And even though he played a feature role in the Cannes prize winning film, The Little Fugitive produced in 1953, he turned his attention to writing as a full time career after his discharge from the Army in 1945. He was the recipient of the Purple Heart. While serving in the Army he published his first book, The Stolen Oracle, in 1943.
Williams may be best-known for his young adult "Danny Dunn" science fiction/fantasy series which he co-authored with Raymond Abrashkin. Though Abrashkin died in 1960, he is listed as co-author of all 15 books of this series, which continued from 1956 until 1977. Jay Williams also wrote mysteries for young adults, such as The Stolen Oracle, The Counterfeit African, and The Roman Moon Mystery.
In all, he published at least 79 books including 11 picture books, 39 children's novels, 7 adult mysteries, 4 nonfiction books, 8 historical novels and a play.
Williams and his wife Barbara Girsdansky were married June 3, 1941. They had a son, Christopher ("Chris"), and a daughter, Victoria. Jay Williams died at age 64 from a heart attack while on a trip to London on July 12, 1978.
Jay Williams (May 31, 1914–July 12, 1978) was an American author born in Buffalo, New York, the son of Max and Lillian Jacobson. He cited the experience of growing up as the son of a vaudeville show producer as leading him to pursue his acting career as early as college. Between 1931 and 1934 he attended the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University where he took part in amateur theatrical productions.
Out of school and out of work during the end of the Depression, he worked as a comedian on the upstate New York Borscht Belt circuit. From 1936 until 1941, Jay Williams worked as a press agent for Dwight Deere Winman, Jed Harris and the Hollywood Theatre Alliance. And even though he played a feature role in the Cannes prize winning film, The Little Fugitive produced in 1953, he turned his attention to writing as a full time career after his discharge from the Army in 1945. He was the recipient of the Purple Heart. While serving in the Army he published his first book, The Stolen Oracle, in 1943.
Williams may be best-known for his young adult "Danny Dunn" science fiction/fantasy series which he co-authored with Raymond Abrashkin. Though Abrashkin died in 1960, he is listed as co-author of all 15 books of this series, which continued from 1956 until 1977. Jay Williams also wrote mysteries for young adults, such as The Stolen Oracle, The Counterfeit African, and The Roman Moon Mystery.
In all, he published at least 79 books including 11 picture books, 39 children's novels, 7 adult mysteries, 4 nonfiction books, 8 historical novels and a play.
Williams and his wife Barbara Girsdansky were married June 3, 1941. They had a son, Christopher ("Chris"), and a daughter, Victoria. Jay Williams died at age 64 from a heart attack while on a trip to London on July 12, 1978.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 4, 2017
I read "Knights of the Crusades" because of my interest in history. The topic as well as the fascinating manuscripts and paintings from the middle ages that adore the cover led me to start reading it. It covered the Crusades with an objective analysis that made it interesting and easy to understand. The causes, events, and aftermath of this important drama were covered in detail, and supporting anecdotes furthered the enjoyment the book gave me. By the end, I knew all about the knights who fought in the Crusades, why they did it, and what they endured in the Holy Land.
Jay Williams was successful in intertwining the focuses on the Crusades themselves as well as the lives of the knights who fought in them. He does this by setting the stage by telling the story of the first knights, commenting on the lives of knights lives while explaining their actions during this conflict, and finally explaining how the age of knights ended. He also used primary sources like manuscripts and pictures of the places he explains to further the enjoyment I got out of this book. I will definitely look for more of his books in the future.
Jay Williams was successful in intertwining the focuses on the Crusades themselves as well as the lives of the knights who fought in them. He does this by setting the stage by telling the story of the first knights, commenting on the lives of knights lives while explaining their actions during this conflict, and finally explaining how the age of knights ended. He also used primary sources like manuscripts and pictures of the places he explains to further the enjoyment I got out of this book. I will definitely look for more of his books in the future.
March 16, 2022
This is sort of a book about the Crusades and sort of a book about knights and chivalry and feudalism.
Most books about the Crusades start with Pope Urban II but this one starts with William the Conqueror's horsemen riding up Senlac Hill at the Battle of Hastings. The central thesis here is about the rise and fall of armored knights from the 11th through the 14th centuries. It's a flawed thesis since it depends on a simplistic understanding of technology (the Turks were not riding into battle without armor) and a lot of essentializing about various people. The conclusion here is unique because instead of citing Crecy and Agincourt as the markers of the end of the reign of armored knights it goes with Falkirk and Coutrai which makes for an interesting thesis though still over reliant on the idea that it was the technology alone that made for the difference in these battles and for the overall shift away from the usefulness of the armored feudal knights.
At any rate, there's a lot here that is presented really well as far as covering the historical period and it's surprisingly fair in a lot of places. Having said that, any time an author writing about the Crusades uses the words "Saracens" and "infidels" outside of quoting source materials they become more than a little suspect and so this book loses a lot of points for the way the author carelessly uses those terms and also for it's dreamy romanticism about the idea of knights and chivalry in general which is frankly hard to take when it glosses over things like the Albigensian Crusades with a single sentence and a handwave.
Nice illustrations but the captions are more imaginative than related to the actual illustrations a lot of the time.
There are worse books to use as an intro to the Crusades (some of the more recent ones are tinged with bigotry that makes this one seem genteel by comparison) but there are many better ones too.
The one thing I'll say about this book is that it's never gets anything important so wrong that you feel the need to throw it across the room so it's not a complete loss.
Most books about the Crusades start with Pope Urban II but this one starts with William the Conqueror's horsemen riding up Senlac Hill at the Battle of Hastings. The central thesis here is about the rise and fall of armored knights from the 11th through the 14th centuries. It's a flawed thesis since it depends on a simplistic understanding of technology (the Turks were not riding into battle without armor) and a lot of essentializing about various people. The conclusion here is unique because instead of citing Crecy and Agincourt as the markers of the end of the reign of armored knights it goes with Falkirk and Coutrai which makes for an interesting thesis though still over reliant on the idea that it was the technology alone that made for the difference in these battles and for the overall shift away from the usefulness of the armored feudal knights.
At any rate, there's a lot here that is presented really well as far as covering the historical period and it's surprisingly fair in a lot of places. Having said that, any time an author writing about the Crusades uses the words "Saracens" and "infidels" outside of quoting source materials they become more than a little suspect and so this book loses a lot of points for the way the author carelessly uses those terms and also for it's dreamy romanticism about the idea of knights and chivalry in general which is frankly hard to take when it glosses over things like the Albigensian Crusades with a single sentence and a handwave.
Nice illustrations but the captions are more imaginative than related to the actual illustrations a lot of the time.
There are worse books to use as an intro to the Crusades (some of the more recent ones are tinged with bigotry that makes this one seem genteel by comparison) but there are many better ones too.
The one thing I'll say about this book is that it's never gets anything important so wrong that you feel the need to throw it across the room so it's not a complete loss.
May 13, 2017
A short book made even shorter by tons of pictures. Don't get me wrong, the pictures are great, just pointing out a fact. Although it was short, I think it covered it's topic well. Any book that can pull my attention from my latest Asimov has to be up there. I will also be forever grateful to this book for introducing me to Emperor Frederick the 2nd. A man after my own heart and ahead of his time. He was excommunicated 4 times. He also ended what was arguably the 2nd most successful crusade after the first by diplomacy of all things with those hated Moslems. Very interested in learning more about this man.
September 7, 2017
Discovered this whilst staying at a holiday cottage. Slightly dated now, but still a good base for the history of the time. Plenty of splendid copies of prints telling the tales as the centuries have passed.
October 30, 2023
Informational but a bit disjointed
September 19, 2025
Jeez, what a buncha lunatics.
October 21, 2016
At some point as a teenager I (or my mom) found this book used somewhere. For a relic of the early 1960s, Knights of the Crusades is a lushly illustrated edition--it still holds up well on this front in the 2010s, and the text describing the life of a knight in the era has a depth of detail that is still impressive in the age of Wikipedia.
April 22, 2008
A romantic overview of the first 200 years of the Crusades from Urban II thru 1291.
January 22, 2011
I thought this was a kids book, but I learned a lot I didn't know about the Crusades, and the origins and demise of the knight in Europe.
March 27, 2017
I really like this book for many reasons, i like history, i like knights, i know a lot about them but i also don't know a lot about them. My favorite part is when the book starts talking about all of the fight
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews