I'm seeing the Crusades come up quite a bit in this thread, and I feel like those who refer to them only have a partial picture of the crusades and their history.

I'd like to recommend a book to anyone who's interested in the real history of the Crusades: "Chronicles Of The Crusades" (edited by Elizabeth Hallam) In addition to providing a history of all nine Crusades and the history that led up to them and followed them, it also features many written accounts by those who were there, from Christian, Muslim, and Jewish perspectives. Anyone who's seriously interested in learning about the Crusades should track down this book and read it thouroughly. (I don't recommend buying it if you don't need to, because it's expensive. However, your local libraries might have it available.)

"Just because I don't like to fight doesn't mean that I can't."