The Crusades: Iron Men and Saints

The Whole Story of the Crusades

by Harold Lamb

1930. With numerous illustrations. In this volume is told the story of the first crusaders. It begins with their setting out, and it ends with the death of the last survivor. Eight hundred and thirty-five years have passed since then, and the lines of these men are known to us only by the chronicles of their days. Several of these chronicles were written by men who marched with the crusaders, by two chaplains and an unknown soldier. Two other narratives were finished in Beyond the Sea after the march, and we have accounts of others who saw the crusaders pass, a princess of Byzantium, an Armenian patriarch. There is also the testimony of Arab travelers and historians of the period, and the notes of Genoese sea traders, and the saga of a Norse king. Upon these original chronicles the story in this book is based. It does not deal with the legends that grew up after the crusades. It is not history rewritten. It is the story of a dozen men, most of them leaders, who started out on that long journey-what they saw on the road, and what they did, and what befell them at the Sepulcher of Christ.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, War, European History, Medieval, Middle East, Audiobook

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1930

About the author

Harold Albert Lamb was an American historian, screenwriter, short story writer, and novelist.

Born in Alpine, New Jersey, he attended Columbia University, where his interest in the peoples and history of Asia began. Lamb built a career with his writing from an early age. He got his start in the pulp magazines, quickly moving to the prestigious Adventure magazine, his primary fiction outlet for nineteen years. In 1927 he wrote a biography of Genghis Khan, and following on its success turned more and more to the writing of non-fiction, penning numerous biographies and popular history books until his death in 1962. The success of Lamb's two volume history of the Crusades led to his discovery by Cecil B. DeMille, who employed Lamb as a technical advisor on a related movie, The Crusades, and used him as a screenwriter on many other DeMille movies thereafter. Lamb spoke French, Latin, Persian, and Arabic, and, by his own account, a smattering of Manchu-Tartar.

From Wikipedia

Reviews

[A Kritzer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is combination of two books. For whatever reason, the first book is much more exciting and is about the first Crusade. I found myself re-reading certain passages. The siege of Antioch was a highlight. The second half reads more like a High School text book with only the introduction of Richard the Lionheart bringing some excitement. Overall, the first half is a 4.5 rating and the second half is about a 3.

[Captain Marcus · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazingly detailed history of the First Crusade. Anyone who is a medieval history buff needs to read this.

[Zafar Hussain · Rating 1 out of 5]

Complete one sided and biased account of First crusade. While story telling and writing style is excellent, his glorification of cannibalism, massacre and rape highlights his biased views of events. While he tries to cover up every wrong step taken by crusades and he constantly tries to degrade every success and actions of Muslims.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

The clearest history of the Crusades I have read, Lamb's explanation of the politics between the European nobles, like Bohemond, Baldwin, Godfrey, and Bishop Adhemar, was immensely helpful. Full of quotations from medieval chroniclers, Lamb's history is much more entertaining.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great historical fiction. Good read. Recommended

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting historical telling of the First Crusade and its aftermath. Lamb tells the story in such a way that the characters and setting come to life - we are there with the Crusaders on their journey. This is not a straight historical account (and has some inaccuracies as I understand), but certainly gives the listener a flavor of the time in all its religious fervor and bloodiness. I particularly liked the description of how they built the siege towers. This is a book that I could listen to again.

Griffin's narration seemed somewhat stilted to me. Not terrible, but I would have preferred someone who read more naturally.

[C Ervin · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far this was the most entertaining nonfiction book I've read on the 1st crusade. And the only nonfiction book I've read thats given me chills. I will be reading the sequel soon!

[Ethan G · Rating 2 out of 5]

Painfully eurocentric... It was written in 1930, and it shows.

[Hans · Rating 3 out of 5]

The crusades are one the more bizarre military campaigns of Western Civilization. It is both terrifying and fascinating, barbaric and intriguing. With how developed middle eastern society was at the time Europeans were the barbarian hordes this time. And where the barbarian hordes helped defeat the mighty Roman Empire the crusaders, though unorganized, illiterate and ill-equipped succeed in achieving the impossible and actually conquered Jerusalem against far greater odds and numerical superiority. The crusades illustrates the power of religious faith wedded with military conquest and how truly potent it is. The crusaders wouldn't give up, they didn't know when they should have considered themselves defeated. They set out with 250,000 and by the time they conquered Jerusalem had only 30,000 left.

[Ryan Rauber · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you have any interest in Crusader history you'll enjoy this. If not, you'll probably be bored. The book really focuses solely on the First Crusade and the capture of Antioch and Jerusalem. There are a lot of characters involved naturally, so it really requires you to pay attention. It doesn't propose any radical theory or new revelations, just primary a recap of the events that led to the Crusade, and what happends during the Crusade.

[Tanglebones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Made it about a third of the way through. Lamb's style is breathless forward motion. This would be interesting if the book wasn't mired in the historiography of the time it was written - focusing on larger than life characters, and almost solely on the Western Europeans. Might be OK for other people, but I couldn't bring myself to enjoy it more than I would a more serious history of the Crusaders.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Islam and Christianity clashed in the Middle Ages, the pope established the Crusades to protect Christian pilgrims to the Holy Lnd and to help drain off the younger sons of the nobility in an effort to prevent bandit knights. This is a history of those Crusades.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rereading my favorite Book on the Crusades.

[Ossian's Dream · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great and horrifying overview of the crusades. Jesus fucking Christ they ate people to survive! These wars were so much more horrible than I could have ever imagined.

[Jerry Jennings]

Anyone who reads this should follow up by reading Thomas Madden's THE REAL HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES which backs up much of what Lamb says in his book. Today the Crusades are mistakenly dismissed as wars of Christian aggression--actually, they were a purely defensive reaction to Moslem aggression which had conquered two thirds of the Christian world before the advent of the Crusades. The Moslems were the warlike bad guys and aggressors in this era. Don't let anyone tell you differently. But for men like Godfrey of Bouillon, Raymond of Toulouse, and Bishop Adhemar of Puy, all of us might live under the tyranny of Sharia law and be dragging out our prayer rugs five times a day.

[Justin Covey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rollicking, rip-roaring history that reads like high fantasy.
Being an almost hundred year old book, I went in expecting the history to be out of date, but everything I double-checked against the internet held up just fine.
I saw negative reviews complaining it glorifies the atrocities committed by the crusaders, but I never felt that. I thought he presented everything with a historians objectivity, tinged only with a general astonishment over what the crusaders were able to pull off, which frequently does beggar belief.
But whether what they did was good or bad, the author leaves to the reader.

[El Juanito · Rating 3 out of 5]

it's pretty interesting, but it gets a bit tedious towards the end. the beginning was very fun, didn't expect the story to have so many interesting details and it isn't as hard as I expected to follow the different characters and story.

i'm noticing that i always love historical books at the beginning, but sooner or later they lose a bit of steam, either the fun part of the story ends (for example here once they conquer jerusalem the book changes a lot, and even before that after antioch) or maybve i just lose interest

[Dan Hill]

I read this for a high school book review and Mr. Butler said that I needed to read this kind of stuff with a more critical lens. Which was true I am sure, but with my fourteen year old mind it felt like a rip off that I had gone to all the trouble to read a book and now an adult was telling me I had gotten dumber from it.

[R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is an odd duck, part historical novel part stitching together of historical narrative. Some interesting personages appear. Some previously known by me and some new acquaintances. Towards the first half, the narrative is more engaging.

[Beta Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very educational and written by an amazing story teller.

[Chadnik Commander · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gripping account of the first crusade

[Oliver Pike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Deus vult!

Solid book and engaging style for a historical work

[Esoteric Anthropologist · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely one of my favorite books ever. It's rare to find a book that's both an educational history book yet reads like an exciting adventure novel. You'll learn lots of interesting tales from the Crusades you probably never knew about, like the travel through the Balkans, Peter the Hermit, and the Siege of Antioch. Every step of the journey and every page will leave you both better educated and excited for the next page.

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marvelous!

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story of Crusaders.

[Mahesh Andar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully written panoramic view of the First Crusade.. Very readable.

[Stosch · Rating 5 out of 5]

very good book.