An enthralling work of grand historical narrative Steven Runciman's A History of the Crusades
overturned the traditional view of the Crusades as a romantic Christian adventure and instead
shifted the focus of the story to the East. With verve and drama volume one of Runciman's
trilogy tells the story of the First Crusade - from its unlikely beginnings in pilgrimage to
the horrors of the siege of Jerusalem and the carving out of new territory on the edge of the
eastern Mediterranean.
