The Crusader Storm (a Global History Of The Wars For The Middle East)

By (author) Morton Nicholas
Short description/annotation:
The Crusader Storm traces the rise and fall of the Crusader States from the First Crusade to Saladin''s conquest of Jerusalem, exploring how diverse cultures collided, coexisted, and reshaped the medieval Middle East. Through the eyes of rulers, rebels, and ordinary people, it reveals a world far more complex than a simple clash of faiths.
Description:

A spectacular new global history of the Crusades.

The Middle East at the time of the Crusades was more than simply religious warfare - it was extraordinarily complex region, home to many cultures, religions and seismic changes. Information, stories, technologies, intellectual ideas, weapons, and architectural techniques - they all changed hands with astonishing rapidity as these societies fought, traded, conducted diplomacy, married, vented hatred and established friendships.

Nicholas Morton''s pathbreaking new account explores the territories established by the crusaders from their foundation in 1097 to the fall of Jerusalem in 1187, showing how they both disrupted and integrated into this dynamic landscape. Rather than framing events from just one or two perspectives, the narrative unfolds through a kaleidoscope of viewpoints: a Byzantine renegade, a crusader princess, a Turkish matriarch, a young Arab nobleman, a Syriac archbishop, Saladin''s leading commander, and the vizier of Egypt. Their lives reveal both the entangled nature of this era''s conflict and the sheer force with which these colliding cultures influenced one another, and the world to come.

Biographical note:
Nicholas Morton is an award-winning author specialising in the history of the Medieval Middle East. An associate professor at Nottingham Trent University, he writes extensively on topics including the Crusades, the Mongol Empire and the Seljuk Turks. His recent books include: The Mongol Storm (Basic Books, 2022) and The Crusader States & their Neighbours: A Military History (Oxford University Press, 2020).