After having read the first chapter of The Glory of the Crusades by Steve Weidenkopf, which is available as a sample, I am confident that this is a very good and accurate history. I was astonished to read that Father Robert Barron was brutally critical of the Crusades. No wonder even faithful members of the Church Militant in our time have joined the anti-Crusades bandwagon. Even Saint Bernard does not escape Father Barron’s biting vitriol. All the more reason why this book is a must read. I have read Belloc’s work on the Crusades, which is very informative and investigative as to ultimate causes of short success and final failure. Also there is another author of the Crusades whom I have not read but I have heard she is excellent in her history, Regina Pernoud.
From Catholic Answers: In a controversial new book, historian Steve Weidenkopf challenges the widespread notion that the Crusades were barbaric wars of greed and religious intolerance. The Glory of the Crusades replaces such persistent modern biases with a more factual and nuanced—yet no less compelling—vision of Christendom’s 600-year struggle to reclaim the Holy Land. Read more here and here with a sample chapter here.
