Holy War The Crusades and Their Impact on Today's World

Karen Armstrong, bestselling author ofA History of God,skillfully narrates this history of the Crusades with a view toward their profound and continuing influence. In 1095 Pope Urban II summoned Christian warriors to take up the cross and reconquer the Holy Land. Thus began the holy wars that would focus the power of Europe against a common enemy and become the stuff of romantic legend. In reality the Crusades were a series of rabidly savage conflicts in the name of piety. And, as Armstrong demonstrates in this fascinating book, their legacy of religious violence continues today in the Middle East, where the age-old conflict of Christians, Jews, and Muslims persists.

Karen Armstrong is the author of <i>Islam</i> and the recent bestseller <i>Buddha</i> as well as <i>The Battle for God</i> and <i>A History of God. </i>In fall 2001 she will be Scholar in Residence at Lowell House, Harvard University.