This book is laden with names, places, dates and statistics, but gives very little in the way of content. What I mean by that is, I believe it is possible to editorialize with analytical descriptions of what took place without compromising the integrity of the event. When you read something like "Army A and Army B met on this date at this place. Army A was soundly defeated and lost X number of men." That leaves a lot of room for improvement and does little to hold the readers interest.
Perhaps I am wrongly making the assumption that most people have a fairly basic knowledge of what took place during the Crusades, but even without that knowledge, unless someone is a history addict like me, I think most people will have a hard time staying interested in this book.
Madden has certainly assembled a great deal of research and information, but I believe it could have been presented in a more readable and interesting manner. There have been countless volumes written on the history of the crusades, and I believe others have provided more meaningful and enjoyable presentations.
As far as I can find, the book is well researched and meticulously accurate, but the "gripping narrative" that I expected just isn't there.
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