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God's Armies: Crusade and Jihad: Origins, History, Aftermath Paperback – October 10, 2017

by Malcolm Lambert (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars 17
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With ramifications on geopolitics today, a vivid chronicle of the Christian and Islamic struggle to control the sacred places of Palestine and the Middle East between the seventh and thirteenth centuries.

Crusade and jihad are often reckoned to have represented two sides of the same coin: each resonated on the opposing sides in the holy wars of the Middle Ages and each has been invoked during the war on terror.

A chronicle of the Christian and Islamic struggle to control the sacred places of Palestine and the Middle East between the seventh and thirteenth centuries, this dynamic new history demonstrates that this simple opposition ignores crucial differences. Placing an equal emphasis on the inner histories of Christianity and Islam, the book traces the origins and development of crusade and jihad, showing for example that jihad reflected internal tensions in Islam from its beginnings. The narrative also reveals the ways in which crusade and jihad were used to disguise ambitions for power and to justify atrocity and yet also inspired acts of great chivalry and heroic achievement. The story brims with larger than life characters, among them Richard the Lionheart, Nur al-Din, Saladin, Baybars, and Ghengiz Khan.

Lambert concludes by considers the long after-effects of jihad and crusade, including the role of the latter in French imperialism and of the former in the wars now afflicting the Middle East and parts of Africa. This vivid, balanced account will interest all readers who wish to understand the complexities of the medieval world and how it relates our own.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    352 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Pegasus Books
  4. Publication date
    October 10, 2017
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 1.2 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    168177531X
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1681775319
  8. See all details
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The Amazon Book Review
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Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Lambert does a workmanlike job of clearly summarizing a vast sweep of history. Sturdy prose and thinking.”
- New York Times Book Review

“Recognizing that the Christian crusades unfolded in a world shaped by Islamic jihads, Lambert scrutinizes both militant forms of religion simultaneously. In a world where memories of crusader atrocities sustain virulent new forms of jihad, such balanced scholarship offers hope of interfaith understanding.”
- Booklist (starred)

“An all-encompassing introduction to the Christian-Islamic struggle for the armchair history buff.”
- Kirkus Reviews

“Enthusiastically embracing intricacy and eschewing oversimplification, Lambert boldly plunges into the struggle between Christianity and Islam to control the Middle East between the seventh and 13th centuries. Recommended not only for history buffs but for anyone seeking a better understanding of the deep roots of today’s news stories.”
- Library Journal

About the Author

Malcolm Lambert was formerly a professor of theology and medieval history at the University of Bristol. His previous books for the academic market include Christians and Pagans, Franciscan Poverty, Medieval Heresy, and The Cathars. God's Armies is his first book for a general audience. He lives in England.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pegasus Books; Reprint edition (October 10, 2017)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 168177531X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1681775319
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.1 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.2 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 out of 5 stars 17

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
17 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Joseph Clasgens III
5.0 out of 5 stars This is an objective analysis by a clear-sighted historian.
Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2018
Verified Purchase
This is a very readable, fair-minded history of the growth of Islam and course of the Crusades. The author's scholarship is almost intimidating in its scope and depth, but he never tries to impress. I regard myself as quite knowledgeable about the Crusades, but he continually stunned me with offhand mentions of surprising facts of which I was unaware.
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Sarah Roddy
3.0 out of 5 stars Lots of information, not much of a narrative
Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2024
Lots of info, and a high level look at the origins and outgrowth of Islam through the crusades. Not presented in the most narrative or readable form, but the info is there.
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Robert R Wilson
4.0 out of 5 stars The very detailed history of the Crusades and Jihad
Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2016
Verified Purchase
This is the most detailed account of the Crusades and Jihad that you will ever read: names, dates and locations follow one after another is if it all occured yesterday. I am reading it on my Kindle and do not have all the time to read it quickly. I have given it 4 stars because I have not yet finished it. I suspect when I have I will upgrade it to 5 stars.
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Michael Johnson
3.0 out of 5 stars but a good opportunity to get exposed to the history of the ...
Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2017
Verified Purchase
A little bit "choppy" and hard to follow, but a good opportunity to get exposed to the history of the conflict.
2 people found this helpful
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Shrink Washington
1.0 out of 5 stars Religion of peace began with the sword
Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2017
I found this work very hard to engage in for two reasons; it rambles and it doesn't seem objective. Up to the time of 1098 and the first crusades, the author rambles on about islams militaristic conquest of the Middle East. He describes jihad as though it was a perfectly legitimate exercise in conversion. The author describes the conquest of Islam from the year 610 up to 1098 outside the context the evolution of Christianity during the same period. While Christianity spread through evangelicals, Islam spread by the sword. To me, those are very critical differences. We don't really take up the Christian cause until Urban II calls on the Christian world to take back Jerusalem from the jihadists.
9 people found this helpful
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Theodore F. Schaaf
4.0 out of 5 stars High Level Look
Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2017
This is a high level look at conflicts arising from the Crusades and the Islamic counter attacks. The author tries to look at the motivations and context of the players from the eleventh century to modern times. The earlier periods are covered more successfully. The more modern times give a much more sketchy view.

However, the book is interesting and pretty easy to read. There are quite a bit of Arabic nomenclature; but, there is a useful glossary. The book appears to depend on secondary sources and there are no citations
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Odd Erik Karlsen
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 6, 2016
Verified Purchase
Excellent.
One person found this helpful
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Astolpho
1.0 out of 5 stars I thought that it would be a good thing to know about jihad
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 5, 2016
Verified Purchase
I thought that it would be a good thing to know about jihad, so I bought this book. I also wanted to know about its counterweight, crusade, although that seems to be advocated less these days – as such, at any rate. I hoped to discover the real differences between Shia and Sunni Islam, which seem to underlie as much of the bloodshed in the Middle East and elsewhere as hostility between Muslims, Christians and Jews. I wanted to understand the idea of the Caliphate. I was sadly let down on nearly every front. This is for two main reasons.

The first is that the author never seems to have decided what sort of book to write, but wrote it anyway. It is incoherent. I was hoping for an account of the ideas (jihad, crusade, Sunni, Shia, the caliphate and so on) and it starts quite well, with the Prophet and the rows – partly religious and partly personal - that followed his death. But by the time we get to the Crusades it has descended to a breathless and simple-minded account of who bashed whom. Furthermore it is impossible quite often to work out who the basher or bashee is who is being talked about. People and groups are referred to as if we know who they are but without any kind of introduction. The book often reads as if it is intended for people who already know the background, but for them such a book as this would be useless as, since it is restricted to an outline, they would already know it all.

The author never sorts out his focus. He likes to give one-word characterisations, and we are often told in a word that such and such a pope was competent, or venal, or whatever, as if it matters in the great scheme of things. King Richard of England is referred to jovially as ‘the Lionheart’, a habit that I thought ‘1066 and All That’ had put an end to. But the Reformation comes and goes, transforms politics and religion throughout Europe, but gets no mention here until it is long over.

The second is that this is quite the worst written book that I have read since some novel, whose title I have blanked out but which was written by someone working for the Daily Mail. The author always uses the passive voice unless he absolutely can’t find any alternative. There are more abstract nouns than a company prospectus. ‘Eccentricities grew,’ we are told at one point. Whose eccentricities? Did they get bigger or were there just more of them? And, eventually: Who cares? It is not a short book, but it takes twice as long to read as it should, as you have to read every sentence twice to work out what on earth is going on. This is would be almost bearable if it were not for the waggish tone with which these assessments are occasionally intoned.

Two conclusions:

There is a need for such a book as this. That is why it is a particular shame that this one fails to deliver.

When faced with such an incoherent text, publishers should send it back or fix it themselves. They can: that is what editors are for. But, better, publishers should not in the first place engage people to write who can neither sort out their ideas coherently nor write them down.
2 people found this helpful
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