The Era of the Crusades

1988.The best one-volume narrative account of the Crusades. Riley-Smith, J. The Atlas of the Crusades. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1991. Superb collections of maps, illustrations, and photographs; ideal companion to the narrative accounts. ———. The Crusades: A Short History. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987. Thoughtful analysis of the origins and hardships of crusading written from a decidedly Western European perspective with little sympathy for the Byzantine world. ———, ed. The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Lavishly illustrated collection of fine essays on cultural, artistic, and institutional topics. Runciman, Steven. A History of the Crusades. 3 volumes, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. The magisterial, award-winning narrative by a brilliant scholar of Byzantine history; indispensable. Setton, Kenneth M., ed. A History of the Crusades. 6 volumes. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1969–1989. A collective work of the highest quality with essays on many aspects of Byzantine and Muslim history not otherwise available in English.