The Crusades: The War for the Holy Land, Thomas Asbridge, (Pocket Books, London, Sydney, New York, Toronto, first published by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd., 2010) xvi, 767pp., paperback, £9.99, ISBN 978 1 41652 608 7

This edition is by Pocket Books but this substantial volume will scarcely fit into anyone's pocket.  The author, who also published a well-respected study of the first crusade, is Senior Lecturer in Medieval History in Queen Mary College, University of London.  Here he recounts the story of the epic struggle over the two centuries from the first crusade from the perspectives of both Christians and the Muslims.

In the event though Christians dreamt of victory, in fact Islam's forces won and gained lasting occupation of Jerusalem and the Near East.

It is a dramatic story and Asbridge tells it dramatically, not failing to bring out the horrors of war as well as the heroism of many engaged in the struggle.  Equally he demonstrates that the crusades have been hailed as a mirror in the modern world both through the dubious practice of historical parallelism and by the forging of tenuous links between modern events and the distant past.  The text for all its length is humanly assimilable and indeed deliberately written for a general audience though based on fresh research.  The book is divided into five parts and avoids the usual partisan interpretation.  It is illustrated by some sixteen maps and provided with a chronology and extensive notes and index.  It is available at an astonishing cheap price.