How long does it take to read The Crusades?
The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land
Thomas Asbridge
The Crusades by Thomas Asbridge takes about 14 hours 22 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 14 hours 22 minutes
A week or two of reading
First published 2010. 784 pages, about 215,600 words.
29 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 23 hours 57 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 14 hours 22 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 8 hours 59 minutes |
The page count is the median across 9 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
From a renowned historian who writes with "maximum vividness" (The New Yorker) comes the most authoritative, readable single-volume historyof the brutal struggle for the Holy Land.Nine hundred years ago, a vast Christian army, summoned to holy war by the Pope, rampaged through the Muslim world of the eastern Mediterranean, seizing possession of Jerusalem, a city revered by both faiths. Over the two hundred years that followed, Islam and Christianity—both firm in the belief that they were at God's work—fought for dominion of the Holy Land, clashing in a succession of chillingly brutal wars: the Crusades.For the first time, this book tells the story of that epic struggle from the perspective of both Christians and Muslims. A vivid and fast-paced narrative history, it exposes the full horror, passion, and barbaric grandeur of the Crusading era, leading us into a world of legendary champions—such as Richard the Lionheart and Saladin—shadowy Assassins, poet-warriors, and pious visionaries; across the desert sands of Egypt to the verdant forests of Lebanon; and through the ancient cities of Constantinople, Cairo, and Damascus.Drawing on painstaking original research and an intimate knowledge of the Near East, Thomas Asbridge uncovers what drove Muslims and Christians alike to embrace the ideals of jihad and crusade, revealing how these holy wars reshaped the medieval world and why they continue to influence events today.
Subjects: History, Nonfiction, Religion and civilization, Religious aspects, Relations, Religious tolerance
