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|title=Holy Warriors: A Modern History of the Crusades

|author=Jonathan Phillips

|reviewer=John Van der Kiste

|buy=Yes

|borrow=Yes

|pages=448

|publisher=Vintage

|date=September 2010

|isbn=978-1845950781

}}

In this book, drawing on a wealth of contemporary sources including chronicles, songs, sermons, travel diaries and peace treaties, as well as the existing literature from earlier generations, Phillips explores in depth the contradictions and the diversity of holy war, of friendships and alliances between Christians and Muslims, the launches of crusades against Christians, and calls for jihads against Muslims. In doing so he has written what is not so much a general history, but had vividly brought to life a rich tapestry of figures and events, while devoting equal attention in his narrative to the Christian and Islamic point of view. This traces the crusading impulse from the conquest of Jerusalem in the First Crusade, launched by Pope Urban II in France in 1095, to today, and in the process helps us to understand the origins of some of the sensitivities which have led to many of the conflicts still raging in the world today.

Our thanks to Vintage for sending a review copy to Bookbag.

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