Sacred Swords: Jihad in the Holy Land, 1097–1291

This was the perfect read for early stages of the lockdown: wittily written and fascinating for a reader who knows some history, but not of the MIddle East during the Crusades from the Islamic point of view. One sentence summary: The Crusaders were tough and the Mongols were terrifying, but the Egyptian Mamelukes saw them both off.

The book covers an area of personal interest and details a history at least as chaotic as the Middle East of our day. Found it well written, well researched and very readable.

Sacred Swords is a must read for anyone who wants a thorough grounding of the Crusades from an Islamic perspective. Starting with the political disintegration of the Saljuk Turks in 1092 and continuing on to the end of the Crusader states, Waterson is thorough, and never boring. However it can be very pedantic for anyone who is not fascinated with this time period, and it can often seem like the wars are going now where, due to the constant back and forth and swapping of territories, as well as the continuous political break-ups of the Turks. Yet this is part of the books charm, since it really does give you a good solid feeling for who the Crusades were fought, with a constant back and forth that often seemed to be going nowhere. While it might seem tedious, it really gives a clear picture of the Islamic perspective which few other books do. My only other complaint about the book is the same as was given in a review for his other book Knights of Islam: The Wars of the Mamluks: He does not know very much about weaponry, sometimes ridiculously so. For example, at one part he says that the Turkish bow could fire three arrows in a second and a half, which seems impossible to believe. Additionally he mentions the Crusaders swords as being two-handed in the early 1100's which they clearly were not. That said, it doesn't detract from the book because he so rarely mentions anything regarding weapons, but it is saddening to see yet more poorly researched weapon statements getting spread around. So in conclusion, this is a must read for anyone who wants to know what was going on on the other side of the Crusades. Paired up with The Crusades: A History by Jonathan Riley-Smith and any reader should be well on their way to some good reading.