Thomas F. Madden Libri

"For more than two millennia Istanbul has stood at the crossroads of the world. The history of this city--known as Byzantium, then Constantinople, now Istanbul--is at once glorious, outsized, and astounding. Founded by the Greeks, its location made it a center for trade but also a target for every empire in history. At its most spectacular, Emperor Constantine I refounded the city as New Rome, filling it with artistic treasures, adorning the streets with opulent palaces, and building new walls that preserved its power and wealth--walls that withstood any aggressor and still stand for tourists to visit today. Drawing on a lifetime of study and the latest scholarship, Istanbul transports readers to a city of unparalleled importance and majesty, a city at the center of civilizations past and present."--The publisher

Overview: 'God wills it!' With that cry of medieval knights a new era in European history began. Across Europe a wave of pious enthusiasm led many thousands to leave their homes, family, and friends to march to a distant land in a great struggle for Christ. Yet the crusades were more than simply a holy war. They represent a synthesis of attitudes and values that were uniquely medieval-so medieval, in fact, that the crusading movement is rarely understood today. This book places the crusades within the medieval social, economic, religious, and intellectual environments that gave birth to the movement and nurtured it for centuries. The events of the crusades to Palestine and Europe's periphery are narrated in a clear, concise, and compelling manner. Special attention is also given to the crusades' effects on the Islamic world and the Christian Byzantine East. Also included is a historiographical overview of the subject as well as an up-to-date select biography.