This is a really good on the crusades of the holyland. Considered to be one of the pioneered scholarly works on the crusades, this book does a great job describing these historic events. Written by Joseph Francois Michaud in French, and published in 1811, the English translation of this work on Project Gutenburg is absolutely fantastic. Although this book is technically a scholarly work, to me it didn’t really felt as such. It is very well articulated as it felt like it was being told as a story; good or bad, but captivating either way. Of the different books regarding the crusades in the Holyland, this book is by far the best that I’ve read thus far.

This first Volume, describes the events from Byzantium’s call for aid, to the events of the end of Third Crusade. One thing to keep in mind while reading this book is that some of the cities, battles and even some of the historical figures have different names. I’m not quite sure if this was a consequence of a direct literal translation to English. Regardless, a quick Google search will be necessary to help put into perspective which exactly what the author is describing.