I have bought this book in a recent trip to Norfolk, Virginia and immediately started to read it. I must admit that my knowledge about the Crusades was really limited to what I read in Middle School (which was no really much but a few dates and statements) and what I gathered from good or bad movies about them. Karen Armstrong covers the Crusades in detail and ties it to the recent conflict between Muslims, Christians and Jews in the Middle East.

The significant difference from other books about the same topic is that she uses what she calls the "triple vision", namely tries to explain everything from the three different perspectives of the three religions. I found the treatment very balanced and the conclusions quite reasonable. Although not an academic, she covers the topic with great confidence and the language is quite easy to follow.

I would really recommend it to anybody interested in the past and the present conflict in that area.