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Honestly I was expecting more from the sequal to White Lion's Lady. I am not used to romance novels in which the female lead is a traitorous murderer. The ending was well done and was pleasing to read, but the first 90% of the book was about secrets and lies, and the female lead was not very likeable.

Another great book by Ms St John.
Another fast moving , heart warming, brilliant tale of an alpha male in need of adventure only to find true love, with a unique twist as expected in a book penned by Ms St. John. (Please read synopsis on Product review page)
It is filled with a great amount of necessary history of the genre to bring the story along.
Every description of each person, building, street etc jumps out at you as you read the book, the images vivid in your head just like it was meant to be.
I love the cultural differences between the Hero/Heroine and their willingness to adjust to each other even in the end when it would have been unnecessary.
I wanted to see more of the Heroine's Fidai skills though. She was portrayed as the only female worthy to be called a Fidai, but we didn't get to see much of what she was capable of doing. I also enjoyed the pre-story to Garreth of Fallonmour and seeing a cameo appeareance by Calab "Blackheart" and Emma, Isabel and Griffin and their "TWINS"!!!!!

MY ONLY PROBLEM: Was at the end of the book, when they all returned back to England, and in two-three months the Heroine was decribed to have "almost lost" her arabic accent when speaking English"
This is VERY impossible, (SPOILER WARNING)---> if she was abducted at the age of two and spoke Arabic and the Lingua Franca literally all her life , how could she have lost her accent in a mere two months????? Even if she tried very hard to fake it, there is no way she would have been able to dislodge her accent.

I did enjoy this book but I had to give it 3 stars because I was totally disappointed and felt the author really copped out when 1/2 way through the book it's revealed ------ Don't read further if you don't want to know -- our heroine, Zahirah is not really Arab at all, but English! Not even 1/2 Arab. Not even a speck of Arab. In fact Sebastian doesn't even really declare his love to Zahirah until he suspects it...although I think it's clear he would have loved her regardless. I don't know why the author felt it necessary to do this. But it sort of wrecks the main premise and conflict of the book, that Sebastian and Zahirah can't help themselves and love each other despite their vast ethnic, religious, and cultural differences. The result: it just doesn't deliver the same punch (even though Zahirah doesn't know this about herself until near the end).

Sebastian and Zahirah are a refreshingly sweet couple. For once, the hero of the story does not spend most of the book denying his feelings. Sebastian falls true and hard for Zahirah, proclaiming:

"I love you. I don't care if you're brown or white. I don't care if you're English, Arab, half of each, or not of this world at all. I love you."

The entire book is filled with beauty like this. Tina St. John makes your heart do flip- flops with pure romance and steamy love scenes that never disappoint, nor do they get too repetative.

Both the hero and heroine are devoted to one another, enough so to turn away from their own people, and risk their own lives to protect one another.

When you sit down with this book, be prepared to stay in your seat. You won't be able to put the book down. You'll enjoy exciting sword battles, steamy love scenes, sweet romance, and a great base- story that keeps the book moving.

This is one of my favorite romance books because it is wonderfully different from the typical medieval romance tale. It has depth, tension (not just romantic tension), and uniqueness. One of the major things I've been annoyed by in romance books (esp. those by Johanna Lindsey) is that they either make you really pity the main characters or make the heroine unbelievably headstrong..to a point where you just want to slap some sense into them when they are in their defiance mode. This book doesn't appear to use either of those techniques and I am truly grateful for not having to roll my eyes after every page.

Jerry's the new kid in town. He's met a girl he likes. She's into piano,and he claims he is too! Taking lessons at the "Shriek School," Jerry learns something unusual is going on, when his teacher will not let him go, and he encounters a ghostly teacher who warns him to stay away!

I was very impressed with this goosebumps book. This is one of the scarier ones in the series. This book is about a boy named Jerry who just moved into a new house with his mom and his dad. His parents thinks that he should do more, so he decides to take piano lessons. His piano teacher, Dr.Shreek is kind of creepy to. Ever since Jerry started taking piano lessons he hears the piano playing every night by its self. This book is scary and its one that you don't want to put down after you start reading it. I also liked the ending to this book.

When Jerome and his family move to Cedarville, he's not too happy to have left behind his old friends...or that they are moving into a much bigger house. As he begins to explore the house he warms up to the idea slowly when he discovers an attic and in the attic is an old piano. He decides that it might be fun to learn...but that's before he hears it playing itself at night and before he meets Dr. Shreek, the very hand obsessed music instructor who runs the music school outside of town. He doesn't think too much of it until he meets Kim his schoolmate and neighbor and she practically runs screaming from the area when he tells her he's studying piano with Dr. Shreek...shortly afterward he notices that the music school is weird, and he keeps running into Mr. Toggle, the maintenance guy at the school who is apparently some sort of mechanical genius...will Jerome be able to figure out what's going on at the school before he winds up as one of those students who goes in for a lesson and never comes out!

Overall, not bad for the series, the characters are lightly drawn and the plot moves along quickly. Like all books in this series, this one has the signature Twilight Zone-esque ending. I give it three stars; it's entertaining and has a few genuinely creepy moments.

My daughter thoroughly enjoyed this book. A real page turner. The last page of each chapter made you want to read one more. Hard to put down!

I had been taking piano lessons since a young age and when I heard about this book I thought it would be creepy, but then later on I began to read the goosebumps series and I really really loved them, so once I familiarized myself with the books and realized they are not frightening, but just entertaning thrillers catered to preteens, I got this book and I still pull it out time to time 10 years later! I liked jerry's character a lot and the descriptions of the story, I almost felt like I was watching a movie. I recall there being an episode about this book but I never got a chance to watch it. But don't ever let this story keep you from taking music lessons though I wouldn't blame you if this book made you giggle over them

The Book of Saladin by Tariq Ali is quite a tale. Intelligent, passionate, erotic, earthy, and irreverent, the tumultuous times and the remarkable man who lived in the midst of it all come to life on the pages. I enjoyed the layered and conflicting views of religion and morality in the book, not to mention the large cast of entertaining and very human characters. A whole panoply of emotions and events, including lots and lots of sex, make for a fun reading experience.

One thing that strikes me about the book is that there is so much talking in it. The constant dialog between the characters, that chorus of infinitely varied voices reminded me of what Azar Nafisi called the democratic aspect of the novel in Reading Lolita in Tehran. Not in the sense that the work depicts democracy of any sort, of course, but in that so many voices are represented and heard.

The whole story is really a series of conversations when you think about it, developed through councils of war, letters, intellectual discussions, and heartfelt confessions. Each of the myriad voices has something interesting to say about the times and about the human condition, whether one agrees with what is said or not.

My beef with the book is that it seems a bit cursory at times, something that may be an unavoidable result of choosing a scribe and historian's pen for the narrative. While the characters are quite interesting and I love the idea of many of them, too often I feel I can't get under their skin beyond what they have to say of themselves or what others say of them. In that respect words and conversations, the strength of this novel, may have gotten in the way of the experience of the novel--those flashes of atmosphere and nuance that words can never reach.

In the end I would call The Book of Saladin just what the Salah al-Din of the book commissioned it to be: A record of his life as put to paper (or is it parchment?) by a faithful scribe. It is a very entertaining record that weaves in and out of history and imagination, but in the end the truth of these people will remain just out of reach, glimpsed, as through a veil, through the rich cadence of words and ideas that both reveal and obscure them.

Ali's Salah al-Din, the hearty, flawed, and likable man from the fringes of a civilization he would come to lead, decided on a humble scribe and scholar of history to pen the story of his life over one of the best prose-writers of his time. I like to think that the result is one he would like better than something that would better satisfy the voyeuristic conceit of the modern novel-reader. Nevertheless, being truer to my sensibilities than his, I give this fictional record four stars out of five.

A fascinating and well told tale of the Muslim ruler Saladin who recaptured the city of Jeruselum from the Christians, a feat he accomplished by bringing together, or crushing, the various Arab tribes that hated and mistrusted each other more than the enemy that had invaded their lands. A great insight into a person of power, savvy,strength and faith in a time and place of great interest and dynmaics.

A must read for anyone interested in the stories of this epoch.

Tariq Ali is a gifted author and makes for a colorful tale - in fact I have the trilogy. A must read !

Astra Z

A beautifully written novel: Tariq Ali gives us a fictionalised reconstruction of the life of Salah al-Din (Saladin), who regained Jerusalem in 1187.

The novel will be best enjoyed if readers can suspend any negative personal views and perceptions of the life and times of Salah al-Din and read this as fiction in an historical setting.

The language enables the reader to participate as an observer in events of the time and to appreciate the events from a different perspective. The major characters are well drawn, and much of the reasoning seems entirely plausible.

After reading this novel, I found I wanted to know more about the life and times of Salah al-Din.

All of the books of the Islam Quintet are worth reading: this novel stands out because many of us have some knowledge (or think we do) of the events depicted in the novel.

Highly recommended.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

This book has changed a few of my thought processes. I am not a fan of historical fiction by any means, in fact I bought this book on a whim as I had an interest in the Muslim world hit me without warning, and I don't regret it in the least. Not because it is historical fiction, but because it has help to expand my mind. I've always been interested in the Crusades since I was a very young child, but I've never stopped to think about the Islamic side of the story. I've always concentrated on the Western histories and legends of this time. This book allowed me to see how Western people could be viewed as barbaric, and how the Islamic culture was really very more advanced in many ways to the stream of warriors coming out of Europe.

In this book we follow the tale of a fictional Jewish scribe as he journeys with Salah al-Din from Cairo through to the retaking of Jerusalem and finally to his death. Along the way we are exposed to many characters and customs of that noble society. I admit, I don't know how much of it was fact and how much was the author's prerogative, but it has definitely made me want to read more of Tariq Ali's works, and to study the Islamic culture a little closer. By all means read this book if you've only studied one side of the Crusader Coin.

Rosamund Stacey is the first person narrator of her own story in the Millstone by Margaret Drabble. Rosamund is a single mother - nothing strange about that, perhaps, at least in a twenty-first century Britain where now half of births are outside of marriage. But in the early 1960s, when The Millstone was written, unmarried mothers were not so common and it was a status to which considerable stigma was attached.

Consequently, when Rosamund visits hospital for her regular check-ups, she is summoned from the waiting room with a call of Mrs. Stacey in an attempt to maintain the privacy of her status. She longs for the day - and not too distant - when her thesis on Elizabethan poetry will be complete and she can prefix her name with Dr., thereby avoiding the deception.

The Millstone is written in Margaret Drabble's conversational, yet dense style. The characters are highly complex and seem to live their lives with a devotion to intricacy. Not much happens to them, however, and events are few and far between. Rosamund's life is a case in point. It was Cambridge, of course, followed by the relative comfort of a flat in central London, an apartment provided by her parents calculatedly close to the British Museum, where she does most of her research. She is definitely not the run-of-the-mill young lass who attends university nowadays, our Rosamund. She has a boyfriend at college, of course, but they never sleep together, not even on the occasion they jointly plan to accomplish the act.

Rosamund is not really into sex, she thinks. She has a tendency to see herself as an object from without, and her observation of the absurdity of various aspects of being human lead her to a life slightly removed from reality, lived apparently at arm's length from experience. Though she sees quite a lot of Joe and Roger - both quite different but eligible males - the idea of anything other than a chat and a drink appals her. Each of the two men, of course, think that the other is the boyfriend and so are loath to raise the subject.

Then, for some reason hardly known to herself, she takes up with George, a gay radio presenter, and sleeps with him. Just once. And yes, Rosamund is definitively pregnant. As ever, she cannot decide what to do and, even when she eventually plans her course, she is blown off onto a different tack. She has read that drinking a bottle of gin in a hot bath might do the trick. She sets an evening aside. And then, just as the bottle is opened, friends turn up, she offers them a drink and they share the otherwise-ntended gin between them.

Rosamund is thus never really in control, despite appearing to have a strangle hold on her life. Circumstances always seem to conspire to prevent her getting precisely what she wants. But this is eventually seen as an illusion. Perhaps she does get precisely what she wants, but does not tell us, or herself.

And so Octavia is born. The baby is a life that Rosamund contemplated ending, but when the child is ill, the thought of her coming to harm is too painful to admit. A friend, Lydia, moves in, shares the costs and sets about writing a novel. When this is complete, an unsupervised Octavia tears much of it up, though perhaps not disastrously. Rosamund reminds us that babies are persistent, not thorough, so most of the pages are preserved. It becomes the mother's trauma, however.

Rosamund could be described as measured, always apparently in control, yet always feeling she is swept along with the tide. Passionate she is not. When George, who still does not know he is Octavia's father, says she might do well with a husband, Rosamund agrees, but only because it would be nice to have someone who could help to fill in the tax return. George is no better, since for his the purpose of marriage seems to be to provide someone to iron his shirts. It's all terribly British.

But the characters are beautifully drawn, expertly pitched against themselves and their relationships. The Millstone, thus, explores motivation and achievement, and the relationship between selfishness and selflessness. In the end, we are who we are.

I typically do not gush when speaking or writing about a literary work, but rarely have I ever experienced so much heartfelt concern for the well-being of a fictional character. Drabble endows her main character with a fierce, albeit flawed, sense of individualism and self-sufficiency. She tackles burdens and obstacles head-on and alone, even when help was available for the asking. Drabble also coveys the conflict present within her. Rosamund considers herself a modern and liberated woman, yet she is still bound by the Victorian sensativities she denounces. Her lifelong seach is for true love, but only does she find it in the place, or person, she was not seeking to meet. Commentary: There was a painfully obvious correlation between the rise of the welfare state and the decline of the family. Rosamund could have never done what she did on her own without the welfare state operating in Great Britain, with no welfare state, she would have had to maintain close ties with her family.

This moving short novel portraits the rude awakening of a young woman, who after making love with a 'silly bugger' becomes an unmarried mother.

The dreams of youth, 'I used to be so good-natured. I used to see the best in every-one', becomes 'my growing selfishness, this was probably maturity.' 'Life would never be a simple question of self-denial again.'

There is also the chasm between the education's view of mankind and the facts of real life.
Education was the cause of 'my inability to see anything in human terms of like and dislike, love and hate, but only in terms of justice, guilt and innocence', and 'the endurance of privation is a virtue.'
However as an adult, she is confronted with 'resentments breed so near the craddle, that people should have it from birth'; 'facts of inequality, of the heart-breaking uneven hardship of the human lot. These things were as nothing compared with the bond that bind parent and child'.
As another woman in the novel says: 'I haven't the energy to go worrying about other people's children. I only have enough time to worry about myself. If I didn't put myself and mine first, they wouldn't survive.'

And finally, there is the unbearable burden of Victorian religion: 'the thought of sex freightened the life out of me.' 'If Octavia were to die, this would be a vengeance upon my sin.'

In naturally flowing prose, Margaret Drabble paints a most human portrait of innocence and struggle for (emotional) survival, youth and adulthood and the mighty marks of religion (guilt) and 'unselfish' education.

A masterly written short novel.

This was my first Margaret Drabble and I was pleasantly surprised at the cutting but subtle satire of English manners of the 1960s. The theme itself -- a single woman's decision to have a child without a husband -- was rather in keeping with the sexual revolution brought about in the 1960s in Western Europe. The narration is light and engaging, in keeping with the best of the traditional English social satirists from Austen to Pym. For my taste the books loses momentum in the last quarter, but it is still a very intelligent rendition of manners and mores.

The ending left me completely unsatisfied. Drabble spends the entire book developing these characters, yet the book ends with no sense of completion or closure.

This book was overwhelming and disorganized - what I mean was that there lacked a unifying theme; a little legalistic. The indicative should come before the imperative.

I had worked through this study with the original edition published in the '80s and am now using this edition to lead a ladies Bible study. This version of the study has been updated. I highly recommend this book for group use. Overall it is good both for ladies new to the faith as well as for mature believers. Some of the questions that involve comparing multiple passages are a little daunting for some, but on the whole, all who are seeking truth and growth will be rewarded here.

The study consists of eleven lessons organized into four sections. The first four lessons look at the goal of excellence. The next two lessons make up the section examining the cost of excellence. The third section examines the development of godly excellence in our lives with five lessons including the titles, "Excellence: Molded by Discipline" and "Excellence: Perfected by Purity." The final section is one lesson looking at the life of the Proverbs 31 woman.

This book helped shape who I am in Christ. Got me through some of the toughest days of my life. A great book to study in a woman's small group.

I really enjoyed the questions and lessons in this book. I learned a lot about who I am in Christ and about what God thinks of me. I would definitely recommend this book for any Christian woman, but especially a new believer. I'm thinking about using it in a Christian mom's group and am looking forward to the Spirit led discussion that will come from it.Buy it!! It's so inexpensive too...what do you have to lose?

As a senior in high school, I led a sophomore girls Bible study. We went through this workbook and had a great time. The issues brought up in the book really hit home for alot of us. We had great discussions and were brought closer to God and to each other. I highly recommend it for women of all ages.

I like this book because it was a mystery and it was fun to try to solve it. You would like it if you like mysteries. Have fun reading. I hope you like it.

I really liked this book because it was a scary mystery. You should definetly read this book because you can solve it! It was cool because it was a mystery. You'll like it!

I really liked this book because it was funny and interesting. I really enjoy mysteries. You should definetly read it because it's a mystery and they are nice to read because you get to solve them yourself!

I really liked this book because I like mysteries and you get to solve the mystery by yourself. You should definetly read this book because it's a cool book and I'm a second grader and I enjoyed this book. If you read it I hope you'll enjoy it too!!

I really liked this book because it has lots of clues in it and I liked to find out how they solve the mystery quickly. You should definetly read this book because it is a really cool mystery book and you should even read it again!! You should also stop and think about what person in the school stole the school skeleton. This book is really cool!

This step by step account of the first crusade by John France is an excellent piece of military history dealing with a complicated subject which can be explored from many different angles. Truly, the innovation of this book is looking at the crusade as a single campaign consisting of aspects like supplies, different possible marching routs, pitched battles as well as smaller expeditions, economy, alliances and much more. John France's writing is remarkable. I can recall many nights at which I simply couldn't let go of the book and often had to read until the end of the chapter just to know what happened to the crusader army. The battle descriptions are very interesting (especially if you have an understanding of the period's way of waging war) and together with the illustrations make for a complete understanding of the situation.

If you are looking for an exciting book about history - this is it !

I first encountered this book at the Byzantine Center at Dumbarton Oaks. Six pages into it, I realized I had to own it. It is not just an invaluable account of a complicated time, but a superb military history, as effective to the novice as to the expert.

Dr. French shows himself to have a gift for explaining strategy and tactics clearly and for setting them within a context of politics (war by other means, if I may invert Clausewitz's dictum) and religion.

His diagrams are easy to understand, and his exposition of the siege of Antioch makes it readily comprehensible.

A very valuable work for the specialist, scholar, writer, or serious reader.

I was prompted to say something about this book after viewing various reader lists concerning the crusades and medieval war and finding this title absent; omissions due to ignorance, surely. Victory in the East is, simply, the best book on the First Crusade that you are likely to ever read. Trust me.

For its time, the First Crusade was breathtaking in scope and stunning in its success. Nearly 100,000 people (knights, servants, women and children) departed from all over Western Europe and marched thousands of miles overland to Constantinople and then across the forbidding terrain of Asia Minor to the gates of Jerusalem. In the process, they swept the fearsome Seljuk Turks from Anatolia, captured the major city of Antioch, took the Holy City in a fierce siege and annihilated several Moslem relief forces from Syria and Egypt along the way. By comparison, the Norman invasion of England and the Battle of Hastings in 1066 was a sideshow.

Much of the secondary research on the First Crusade focuses on what motivated the mass expedition to reclaim the Holy Land in 1095 and how the rivalries between the leading princes on campaign led to the establishment of Christian city-states in the Levant. Little energy has been devoted to explaining precisely how those remarkable achievements were attained, which is exactly what John France sets out to do in this book.

The first three chapters review the basic nature of warfare in the eleventh century and demonstrate how the experience of fighting feudal wars in Western Europe directly shaped the military actions of the Crusaders in the East. Above all, the author stresses that warfare in this period focused on the control of strategic strongholds and the ravaging of an enemy's land as a way to simultaneously support the invading army, destroy the enemy's economic base and alienate the local population from their supposed feudal protector. Major set piece battles (such as Hastings) were a rarity and only fought under highly favorable conditions and for the greatest stakes possible. These topics are covered in the first quarter of the book and are "generalist" in nature.

The rest of the book offers a highly detailed analysis of the various military actions that made up the First Crusade. France does an impressive job of primary research (including fieldwork) to present a comprehensive review of how, when, where and why the Crusaders engaged their various Moslem adversaries. Every Crusading chronicle or memoir that had anything to say about a given battle is examined and assessed for accuracy. His work is exhaustive and at times overwhelming in detail. For instance, he devotes a hundred pages of dense analysis to the siege of Antioch alone. If you're only looking for the "big picture," the last three hundred pages of this book will be tough going.

A couple final points on "Victory in the East." The author has included twenty-three maps and diagrams that greatly facilitate understanding of the various sieges and ambushes. On the other hand, he writes paragraphs of Brobdingnagian dimensions. It isn't uncommon for single paragraphs to span several pages, with the text just rolling on in one monolithic block as France goes from one subject to the next. Needless to say, this style doesn't add to the readability of the rather arcane content.

In closing, for those with a keen interest in Medieval Warfare and a strong pre-existing understanding of the First Crusade "Victory in the East" offers an impressive blend of research and analysis on a remarkable event in the annals of military history. If your five favorite books on military history were written by authors with names like Clancy, Ambrose or Keegan, then this book most definitely isn't for you.

France's work is certainly the best military history of the 1st Crusade in print. Contrary to popular belief, many nobles of the First Crusade did indeed have experience leading and/or fighting in organized, well led military ventures in Europe. Robert of Normandy and Robert of Flanders were both experienced campaigners. Duke Godfrey of Boullion was at the great Siege of Rome, and Bohemond of Taranto (clearly the Crusade's most able tactician) had long experience fighting against his Guiscard relatives and the Byzantines in the Balkans. France admirably refutes any idea that the 1st Crusade was simply a horde of fanatical barbarians. He does a fine job of explaining how relatively large-scale logistics and planning were skills that a number of nobles brought with them to the East. In fact, the ultimate success of the venture could not have happened without such expertise. Understanding this fact helps the student realize that the 1st Crusade's success cannot be entirely attributed to (a) religious fanaticism, (b) Islamic divisions, or (c) luck (all of which many past historians have subscribed). Certainly, all 3 of the above were factors, but none of them can fully explain the amazing success of the late 11th century European knights in Turkey, Syia, and Palestine. As France explains, martial skills conquered the Holy Land. Other considerations, from a military perspective, are peripheral. The religious fanaticism of the crusaders certainly helped them in their conquests (defeat of Kerbogha, especially), but such fanaticism couldn't defeat an enemy alone. After all, the People's Crusade (1096) of Peter the Hermit had equal fanaticism, and it was cut to pieces almost as soon as it stepped on Turkish soil. By the same token, Islamic political divisions after the death of Malik Shah certainly contributed to the Crusade's success. However, even with such divisions, the Crusaders were at huge numerical and/or resource disadvantages against their Islamic opponents. After all, the Crusaders were often outnumbered, were fighting thousands of miles from home on unfamiliar terrain, and had virtually no supply line. It took leadership and force of arms for such wondrous military achievements to take place.

France does about as good a job of analyzing the military decisions and actions of the Crusaders as I have read. He covers in detail all of the major clashes (along with many minor ones) with Islamic powers: Nicea, Dorylaem, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Ascalon. Battle tactics and strategy are well covered, maps are understandable and relevant, and results are clearly explained. France, like other historians, recognizes that the European's greatest asset was the heavily mailed charge. The Crusaders were rather more heavily armoured than their Islamic adversaries, and the charge was a devastating weapon. However, the heavily armoured charge was in somewhat of an embryonic stage in the late 11th century and certainly wasn't yet what it would be come in the 12th and 13th centuries. Because it was a relatively new innovation, it took quite exquisite leadership and martial ability to use it effectively. It took even better generalship to coordinate the cavalry with the infantry. One of the greatest strengths of France's work is his coverage of how these skilled soldiers (Bohemond in particular) were able to link cavalry actions with infantry actions and how the Crusaders quickly and continually learned these lessons after encountering the Turks' alien fighting style. The lightly armed Turks presented the Crusaders with an opponent that they had not seen before. They were highly mobile and fought primarily from the saddle with a composite bow. Their tactics frequently involved encirclement and feigned retreat. These were tactics, in fact, that troubled European knights for 200 years in the Holy Land. Still, the 1st Crusaders were able to modify their own tactics enough to clear the way of Turks on their way to Jerusalem. Again, such adaptation shows just how militarily sophisticated and skilled these Western "barbarians" really were. Again, a strength of France's work.

On the negative side, there was not enough comparative study of the weapons available to Christian and Islamic armies. We are told that the Europeans were rather more heavily armoured than their Islamic opponents and that they typically carried far heavier lances. However, there is no detailed discussion of these issues. Short mention is made of mail and lamellar, and very little comment is made about relative hand weapon size/construction/type/etc. That said, France certainly does not believe that military technology was a decisive factor in the Crusade's success. Hence, he can't be faulted too much for not including information not relevant to his thesis especially when he considers technological differences to be either non-decisive or negligible. France also tends to get ahead of himself in parts of the work which may cause some to question its focus. The work reads fairly chronologically but will at times go into tangents covering events which are not yet put into context. The problem is not serious, though, and does not affect the quality of the work.

This is the premier military history of the First Crusade, and its value cannot be overestimated. It certainly deserves to be on the shelf with R.C. Smail's classic "Crusading Warfare: 1097-1193" and Christopher Marshall's "Warfare in the Latin East: 1192-1291). Other valuable works, while not about the Crusades specifically, are France's other great work "Western Warfare in the Age of the Crusades", Maurice Keen's "Medieval Warfare: A History", Charles Oman's "The Art of Warfare in the Middle Ages", and especially J.F. Verbruggen's "The Art of Warfare in Western Europe during the Middle Ages from the Eighth Century". A number of other works about the First Crusade specifically are extremely valuable in that they cover far more than just the military aspect. See, for example, Thomas Asbridge's new "The First Crusade: A New History", Runciman's dated but still valuable "The First Crusade", and Jonathon Riley-Smith's "The Crusade and the Idea of Crusading". I don't agree with some of his ideas, but David Nicolle has written some valuable works such as "The First Crusade 1096-1099: Conquest of the Holy Land". There exists a large number of quality general histories of the Crusades as a whole. Anything by Riley-Smith is excellent. Without naming too many, Jean Richard's "The Crusades c. 1071-1291", Hans Eberhard Mayer's "The Crusades", and Robert Payne's "The Dream and the Tomb: A History of the Crusades" are all valuable resources as well.

A remarkable book, fine product of a thorough political and military research analysis. It has answered a lot of my past questions regarding the chaotic period (1174-1186)hence the period before the cataclysmic crusader defeat at Hattin.
I suggested it for all those readers who are looking for a different or an alternative approach regarding the behaviors of famous crusaders like Raymond of Tripoli or the infamous Reynald of Kerak, based on comparative scientific historical data which pour new light to a supposedly known story.Not for readers without basical knowledge of the crusaders era.

This was a very informative book. However, contrary to what the title would lead you to believe, the Leper King and His Heirs provides very little actual material about King Baldwin IV. However, the events that occured after his death are covered in great detail and I would still recommend this title for anyone doing academic research on the Crusades (or who just enjoy reading about historical events). Well written and very detailed.

Baldwin IV, king of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem is largely - and unfairly - unknown in the west today. But, as Bernard Hamilton details in The Leper King and his Heirs, he deserves so much better. For a start, he accomplished so much more than his famous Crusading near contemporary Richard the Lionheart, and under infinitely more trying conditions.

Not only was his childhood troubled - his father Amalric had been forced to disown his mother Agnes when Baldwin was two years old before the aristocracy would accept him as king, and Baldwin was only 13 when Amalric died and he took the throne - he contracted leprosy at a young age (Baldwin's symptoms are discussed in a useful appendix by Piers Mitchell).

The disease could not be hidden; "It grew more serious each day, specially injuring his hands and feet and his face, so that his subjects were distressed whenever they looked at him," William of Tyre, chief contemporary chronicler of the day, relates.

A lesser person would have quickly broken under such circumstances. But Baldwin was animated by both a bold spirit and a tremendous sense of duty, of his obligation to his people. One of the most human touches is William of Tyre's depiction of Baldwin as "a good looking child for his age" who grew up "full of hope" and "more skilled than men who were older than himself in controlling horses and in riding them at a gallop," (p 43). Baldwin had taught himself this skill, vital to a knight, despite already losing feeling in his right hand. And he continued to ride at the head of his men into battle when there was no way he could have remounted had he been unhorsed. Determination and courage were to be the hallmarks of his all too brief career.

For Baldwin was by any measure a successful king - considering his circumstances and limited resources, a great one. Though his people were massively outnumbered and surrounded on three sides, this boy, who took the throne in 1164 and died aged not quite 24 in 1185, for 11 years frustrated the ambition of Saladin, the greatest warrior of the age, to forge unity among the Arab people and drive the Christians from the Holy Places.

Despite being significantly outnumbered, he defeated Saladin in two major battles, Mont Gisard in 1177 and Le Forbelet in 1182, and forced him to raise the siege of Beirut in 1182 and the major fortress of Kerak twice, in 1183 and 1184. On the latter occasions he was blind and so debilitated he had to be slung in a litter between two horses.

Hamilton also helps untangle the intricate web of domestic and international relations in which Jerusalem, the center of the world for three faiths, was ensnared. Baldwin had to balance the conflicting jealousies and agendas of his own nobility, always maneuvering to secure their positions first in the event of a regency, then at the succession; the knightly orders that were within his kingdom but not of it; the neighboring Crusader states; the attitude of the Papacy; the interests of Byzantium; and the distant and fickle responses of the western European powers. And overshadowing all this was ever-present menace of the Islamic counterattack that could come anytime, anyplace. Given this ever-precarious situation, Baldwin perhaps emerges with even greater credit for his diplomacy than for his skills with the sword. Certainly, he made no fatal mistakes and left the kingdom in no weaker condition than he found it.

Hamilton makes no great departures in his work, but goes some way towards rehabilitating Reynald of Chatillon from his characteristic depiction as loose cannon psychopath. Following Michael Lyons and David Jackson's Saladin: The Politics of Holy War, he also demythologizes the Crusader's nemesis, emphasizing the traditional argument that the Christian state unnecessarily provoked Saladin into war is flawed: The great leader of the Muslim world had been working towards the cleansing Jihad his entire career.

This is a book as much about an era as an individual, and at times, Baldwin as a personality tends to disappear inside it. Even considering the limitations of the sources, one wishes there was more representing his perspective in his voice. But we are limited to a heartfelt letter he wrote to Louis VII of France, humbly recognizing his limitations and offering to hand the kingdom over to a candidate as noble, and more healthy, than he: "To be deprived of one's limbs is of little help to one in carrying out the work of government... It is not fitting that a hand so weak as mine should hold power when fear of Arab aggression daily presses upon the Holy City and when my sickness increases the enemy's daring." (p 140).

It was fortunate for the Kingdom of Jerusalem that this offer was refused. It is significant that just two years after Baldwin's death Saladin won his great victory at Hattin, fatally wounding the Crusader presence in the Middle East and setting in motion the chain of events that would culminate in their expulsion in 1291.

"Few rulers have remained executive heads of state when handicapped by such severe physical disabilities or sacrificed themselves more totally to the needs of their people," (p 210) Hamilton concludes. Baldwin's accomplishments would seem to be the stuff of myth, but he was quite real, a testament to human courage and endurance, and Hamilton does a fine job of putting his life and times in perspective.

Bernard Hamilitons scholarship is unsurpassed. The book does long overdue justice to the Leper King, and goes some way to correcting the demonisation of Reynald of Chatillon. Clearly exposes the widely beleived myth that if the Crusaders would of come in line with the thinking of Raymond of Tripoli, Saladin would of lived peacefully coexsisting with the crusaders.

The book is full of detailed accounts of the most intresting events of the selected period: Reynalds raid on Arabia, the details of Balwins disease, Ramond of Tripoli's ambitions, etc..

A much more credible account of the Leper Kings reign, backed up by endless foot notes and evidence, that bravely disputes the widely held, 'Steven Runicman' view on the period.

I greatly enjoyed this book! The reign of Baldwin IV, the Leper King has been long, long overdue for a good, historical revision! The usual story: Saladin/Raymond of Tripoli good guys, everybody-else bad guys (particularly Agnes de Courtenay, the king's mother, portrayed as a cross between "Vampirella" and Marilyn Monroe), with the poor Leper King in the middle (usually portrayed as a cross between The Little Lame Prince and Count Dracula) has always been too simplistic---I thought so, even before reading this book. Hamilton gives you all the details, all the facts, and even an appendix discussing Baldwin's illness from a medical point of view. Get this book!

My daughter asked for this book for her birthday. She has read it several times and loves it. She misplaced her original copy and I was unable to find this book anywhere else. Glad to find it on Amazon.

Plenty of plot summaries have been done for this book, so I'll just add that it has a couple of quirks. Readers familiar with Handeland's writing already know that her characters tend to be slightly exaggerated "types" who hardly ever act out of character. Happily, she mostly avoids that pitfall here, so the minor characters tend to be fascinating--one or two of them interested me more than the main characters. BUT--Handeland's depiction of Kim's mother was highly annoying and unbelievable. Come on--a fifty-year-old woman who doesn't have a clue she might be going into menopause???

A great book to sit in your hammock with. I was up many a late nights (early mornings) because I couldn't put it down.

Eight years ago Kim Luchetti fled the small Illinois farming community where she was raised, eventually buying a partnership in a law firm in Savannah. Only her father's hospitalization brings Kim back to face the ghosts and disappointments of the past. When she hears of the death of her former boyfriend's parents, Kim feels compelled to visit his farm to offer her condolences.

Unsuspecting of Kim's approach, Brian works on repairing the roof of his barn, tumbling to the ground in shock and breaking both wrists when he sees her. With both of Brian's wrists in casts, Kim's guilt over his injury drives her to offer to care for him and help out in the house until he recovers. But living in such close proximity forces Kim and Brian to face the past and their own unresolved feelings, despite her determination to leave everything between them in the past.

Second chances taking an entrancing twist in THE FARMER'S WIFE by Lori Handeland. Kim's determination to never be a farmer's wife and the contradictions and conundrums her choice presents result in a journey of self-discovery and transformation. Brian's determination to expose and heal the past provides a powerful counterpoint, maintaining a fascinating tension. Indeed, these vividly realized characters reveal weaknesses and strengths that will hold readers entranced. In addition, a secondary cast of characters mostly consisting of Kim's wonderful family will have readers hoping for more love stories coming from the fertile Illinois vista. A delightful read, THE FARMER'S WIFE comes highly recommended.

Courtesy of CK2S Kwips and Kritiques

In this prequel to Lori Handeland's `Luchetti Brothers' Series, readers meet their youngest sibling and only sister, Kim, who has secrets she can tell no one.

Kim Luchetti had fled her home at the young age of 18, swearing to never return, and indulging in all manners of things in an attempt to forget. Her heart had been broken as the result of a tragedy that only she and her boyfriend at the time, Brian Riley, knew about. When her father falls ill eight years later, she comes home to see him. Everyone wants to know why she left everything behind but she can't bring herself to reveal their secret.

Brian has always loved Kim, in spite of the hurt and anger he feels and her having abandoned him when he needed her most. When she appears in the driveway of his farm, he is disbelieving and in his shock, tumbles off the barn roof breaking both of his wrists. Kim's guilt over their heartbreak, and his current situation, makes her decide to do the right thing and stay to help him until he is healed.

Their love has never died, even after what happened so many years ago, and being in such close quarters brings all those memories to the surface. Can they finally talk about what happened and help each other heal? Or is that one heartrending event going to keep them apart forever?

This is a beautiful story about two young people who made some mistakes in their past that still affect them to this day. Kim and Brian were so in love in their younger days, that they never thought anything could ever hurt them. As is always found in the fearlessness of youth, they believed they were indestructible. However, their past affected them more than they realize.

Kim has become a woman who believes love is nothing but pain, and she attempted to drown that in alcohol and men. But the emptiness remains. Brian feels like a failure because he could not make her stay back then. Both are still so blinded by their hurt and loss that they can't see the truth before their eyes... that the love they share can see them through anything. This comes through in the writing, having caused this reviewer to become teary-eyed on more then one occasion.

The growth of the characters in this book is well done, with the readers being able to understand what drives them. The interaction between Kim and her family is realistic and true to the nature of large families. There is even a sweet secondary love story here, that of Kim's parents, as they learn once again why they love each other and they learn to handle the changes in their relationship. Tantalizing glimpses of the Luchetti Brothers are given throughout, preparing readers for the stories to come about each of them.

Having only read Ms. Handeland's paranormal romances in the past, this book gave the reviewer a better realization of the author's talent for penning emotional stories that grasp readers from beginning to end. This reviewer looks forward to reading the rest of the series that has started with `The Farmer's Wife'.

© Kelley A. Hartsell, September 2004. All rights reserved.

This is great, fun history. Truth be told, I'm no expert on history of this period, but I do have a pretty sensitive "BS detector" and this book did not seem to me to be overblown or exaggerated. It is well referenced and seems 'factual' (if that word can be used to 600-1000 year old events). All in all, however, it was an enormously entertaining book to read.

This book is a bit older and hence some of the research is out dated, but Harold Lamb does a terrific job of not giving a biased perspective (something that is not always done when dealing with this subject). In addition, some of the details of the book are scarcely found in other accounts. The book has a narrative flow which makes for an interesting read. In contrast to its title the book only deals with the first crusade but as such it is an invaluable resource on such.

I am writing for both volumes of the Crusades, Iron Men and Saints and for Flames of Islam. Both books proves to be well written and Lamb's storytelling does make both volumes read a lot like historical fiction. However, the book appears to be well researched if not slightly outdated by our standards today but still acceptable overall. (Both books been around for a long time.)

Because of the easy to read format as written by Harold Lamb, these two books could be read by almost anyone who have any interest on the subject. Its a great introduction material and easy to digest information would be welcome by many. Not only that, it tells a great story in an energic and entertaining way.

I was told and agreed that these two books compared favorably with Thomas Costain's four books series on English Plantagenat Kings. If you enjoyed Costain's works, you will definitely enjoyed Harold Lamb. They both writes in that style that make history into a story. Lamb would put into some fictional liners to advanced the story and takes legends into facts. But its a great way to start into the history of the Crusades and even if some of the modern works (you might read later on) might straighten out the details into proper perception, these two books helps in providing the background material which was so easily read and understood.

Excellent starter books, thick but very readable!!

This was the first of two volumes Lamb wrote on the Crusades. it dealt only with the First Crusade. The second was "The Crusades: Flame of Islam," and it treated with the later Crusades.

Lamb wrote military history engagingly, almost like it was historical fiction. Most of his other historical works were biographies of great generals -- from Hannibal to Alexander to Genghis Khan. As a youth, I read as many of his books as I could find until I hit upon his biography of Alexander the Great. I was sorely disappointed. It was unabashedly historical fiction. This caused me to doubt the historicity of his other works until I read Steven Runciman's three volume work on the Crusades.

Comparing Runciman to Lamb reassured me of "Iron Men's" basic historical merit. It is fairly accurate and extremely well told. Lamb starts with the turn of the millenium and moves to the Pope's preaching a crusade. He describes the crusade of Peter the Hermit, and then gives an account of the First Crusade.

How on earth these naive, strategically clueless men-at-arms were able to wrest Jerusalem from Islamic control is beyond me. They had only three things going for them -- Religious zeal, superb fighting ability, and excellent armor.