FREE ESSAY ON THE STORY OF THE CRUSADE

THE STORY OF THE CRUSADE

The Story of the Crusades
The Story of the Crusades is a book that was written in 1963 by Alfred Duggan. The book's
title tells you what the book is about, the Crusades. The book follows the Western
Christian's perspective on the 200 year event, from 1095 to 1291. It starts out setting
up the plot (which most good books do), then sets up the plot, and keeps on setting up
the plot. The book is very slow at the beginning, then slowly starts to move but not fast
enough. If I were rating this book on how exciting it was, I would not forget to count
the number of times I almost fell asleep trying to read it. But the Crusades have always
interested me, so I couldn't give up on the book,
The book covers all of the crusades, but it also covers all of the down time between the
crusades, which is not interesting to read. I am sure it is very important to know about,
but a book should be fun also, considering its written as a story, and not as the Bible.
There were interesting parts though. Especially During the 3rd crusade, I never learned
about the Muslim assassins who played a big part. Also I found it interesting to read
more information about King Richard who was kidnapped by The Duke of Austria.
Another interesting part of the book was the attitude the author took on the First
Crusade. He named the Chapter "The Great Lords Ride Out". Mr. Duggan portrays the first
crusade a lot different than I have been taught in the past. The way I've been taught
about the Crusades was rather basic compared to the amount of information in the book.
There was a lot more to the battle and religion so says Mr. Duggan. For exampleThe Greeks
couldn't understand the motives of the Crusaders. The Greeks thought the Crusaders should
have deceived Jerusalem's holder, because war was haste, and unneeded to achieve victory.
Its amazing how much morals can change from one tribe to another. Just like Des Moines
saying War is good, And Kent saying war is bad. They are neighbors but their views are
dramatically different from one another.
The big question isn't what is the book about, but is the author credible? I would have
to think so. Mr. Duggan has a good education, he attended Eton and Balliol College (field
of study not mentioned), and Oxford. So appearently he studied at the same college two
times. Mr. Duggan has also seen all four corners of the world. He has traveled to Levant,
Galapagos Islands (to collect specimens for the British Museum), Constantine's palace
(for excavation). Also has a list of books he has written that is about 10 books long. So
does Mr. Duggan have the necessities to write a book about the Crusades? I think he does,
he sounds well credited, and he had so many facts to write this book with. Probably
enough information to write 2 books on the Crusades.
Where did Alfred get his information? He used the books called History of the Crusades
for his facts. There were three volumes written at Cambridge University from 1951-1954.
"(And) will long remain the standard authority in English." Thus meaning that the books
Alfred used are considered to be Cambridge's best records and the most correctly written
books. So I believe that the right information was used to write this books.
I think that The Story of the Crusades was a well written book. It easily had enough
information for two books, if not three. If I were asked if this book was worth
recommending to someone, I would say yes considering this book is full of (hopefully)