Download or read book What Were the Crusades? written by Jonathan Riley-Smith and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-09-16 with total page 135 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Riley-Smith's acclaimed book is now regarded as a classic short study. The updated fourth edition of this essential introduction features a new Preface which surveys and reviews developments in crusading scholarship, a new map, material on a child crusader, and a short discussion of the current effects of aggressive Pan-Islamism.