A spirited and sweeping account of how the crusades really worked—and a revolutionary attempt to rethink how we understand the Middle Ages. The story of the w

'Wonderfully written and characteristically brilliant' Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads 'Elegant, readable ... an impressive synthesis ... Not many his

Why did capitalism and colonialism arise in Europe and not elsewhere? Why were parliamentarian and democratic forms of government founded there? What factors le

This insightful portrait of the Crusades illuminates both the rosy myths and the harsh realities of these epic adventures.

A lively reimagining of how the distant medieval world of war functioned, drawing on the objects used and made by crusaders Throughout the Middle Ages crusading