Riley-Smith’s acclaimed book is now regarded as a classic short study. The updated fourth edition of this essential introduction features a new Preface which surveys and reviews developments in crusading scholarship, a new map, material on a child crusader, and a short discussion of the current effects of aggressive Pan-Islamism.‘None of the growing number of rather good general books on the Crusades performs the same service in anything like the same measure as Riley-Smith’s; no bibliography for an undergraduate course can afford to dispense with this book.’ – Professor Peter Jackson, Keele University, UK ‘An indispensable short introduction to a vast subject.’ – Professor Thomas Madden, St Louis University, USA ‘A fourth edition, 32 years after the first, is a tribute to the merits of this concise and perceptive book. A.W. Purdue, Times Higher Education ‘If Bush had read this book – a new fourth edition of a seminal work first published in 1977 – he might have spoken more carefully on the White House lawn.’ – TribuneAbout the AuthorJONATHAN RILEY-SMITH is Dixie Professor Emeritus of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Cambridge, UK, and a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, UK.Reviews‘None of the growing number of rather good general books on the Crusades performs the same service in anything like the same measure as Riley-Smith’s; no bibliography for an undergraduate course can afford to dispense with this book.’ – Professor Peter Jackson, Keele University, UK ‘An indispensable short introduction to a vast subject.’ – Professor Thomas Madden, St Louis University, USA ‘A fourth edition, 32 years after the first, is a tribute to the merits of this concise and perceptive book. A.W. Purdue, Times Higher Education ‘If Bush had read this book – a new fourth edition of a seminal work first published in 1977 – he might have spoken more carefully on the White House lawn.’ – TribuneBook InformationISBN 9780230220690Author Jonathan Riley-SmithFormat PaperbackPage Count 136Imprint Red Globe PressPublisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLCWeight(grams) 167g