I’d been schlepping through this 700 page whopper for months.
Some of it is a rip-roaring page-turner, some of it is as dull as a long march through the desert.
The parts that are ceaselessly fascinating are the political machinations, the way the Crusades were sold to commoners and Kings alike, and how the Pontiff was able to mobilize thousands of people to travel across the globe on an impossible mission.
Less interesting are the very detailed battle descriptions. Still, author Thomas Asbridge keeps it focused on the personalities and the cultural aspects of “taking the cross.” I wish I read this before I went to Israel – I’d be pretty stoked to see the city of Akko again now that I know some of the shit that went down there.
