Short but very useful guidebook to Arabic sources in the Crusades period. Situates them: places each of seven writers in their biographical, intellectual and ideological environment, so that we can see why they wrote, under what influences, with what intention. Essential questions for understanding the value of any source, but this hasn't been done in Crusades studies for the Arabic writers, who, as the introduction complains, are taken out of context, too excerpted, even when they are translated (much of importance isn't):

"Although very recently some studies have attempted to employ Arabic sources to the same extent as the Latin ones, Arabic texts have, traditionally and regrettably, been used almost exclusively only in as far as they back-up what the western ones say, and ignored if they disagree."

I now have a watch on the work of the editor Alex Mallett and contributer Konrad Hirschler, who seem to be integrating the Arabic sources in new and exciting ways. I've just seen the latter call for medievalists with Arabic, of whom there are few; makes me want to scrub up my once-attempted Arabic acquisition, and become one. As if I don't have other things to do. ( )