THE CRUSADES THROUGH ARAB EYES

The author has sifted through the works of a score of contemporary Arab chronicles of the Crusades, eyewitnesses and often participa nts in the events. He retells their stories in their own vivacious style, giving us a vivid portait of a society rent by internal co nflicts and shaken by a traumatic encounter with an alien culture. He retraces two critical centuries of Middle Eastern history, and offers fascinating insigights into some of the forces that shape Arab and Islamic conciousness today.