This is a clearly written and (to me, anyway) interesting book about the crusades. Finucane's purpose was not to provide a chronological narrative of the the several crusades that took place over several centuries during the Middle Ages, but instead to provide, to the extent possible from this far remove, a look into what it was like to take part in the events, looking, as the title suggests, from the perspectives of both European Christians and the Moslems they went to do battle with. Finucane began with an overview chapter laying out relatively briefly the timeline, goals and results of the various crusades to provide a context. But then he presents a series of explications of the different factors of the events, showing the patterns that held true throughout the centuries and differentiating between the various eras when appropriate. So we get insights into "Enlisting for the Crusades," "The Journey," "God's Armies," "Fighting and Dying," "Searching for God: Christian Enthusiasm, Moslem Beliefs," "Christian-Moslem Interactions," "Minorities at Risk: Women and Jews" and, finally, "Decline of an Ideal." Finucane didn't romanticize or admire any of this, but instead tried to present a clear-eyed view of it all. His writing was not particularly graceful, but was, as I mentioned up top, clear and straightforward enough to allow for a relatively unfettered reading experience.

The book's 212 pages were just about enough for me, so I will also give Finucane credit for knowing how much detail to include. He illustrates the ways in which, especially, the later Crusades became money-making schemes for the Papacy, the ways in which failure, in the longterm, was assured by the European nobles' rivalries between each other, the reasons why common folk would have signed on to go (from a hope of immediate entrance to heaven to a desire for plunder to a wish to get out from under debts and the drudgery their lives) and the horrors and depravations, not to mention the very high risk of sudden death, that the Crusaders, both high-born and low, were letting themselves in for.

Finucane was a British historian who died in 2009. Here is an obituary: https://www.oakland.edu/history/faculty-staff/ronald-c-finucane/ ( )

An attempt to present a nuts and bolts front line picture of the major components of crusading warfare, from both Christian and Moslem perspectives. Not a lively read, but informative. ( )