History Book Recommendation

[wbonnell]

Fellows,
For the final assignment in my graduate-level historiography course, I am to read a history book of an event, and analyze it according to the historiographical methods studied (see my dynasty for more info: http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15463).

I am specifically interested in The Crusades, and I found a book at my local Half-Price Books:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/039442073X/qid=1068439459/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/002-6898136-3576036?v=glance&n=507846

Would this be a good introduction (remember, even though this course is graduate level, I don't have an undergraduate history background)? If so, do you recommend any supplemental reading?

[Shkspr]

The customer reviews you may have read at Amazon are fairly accurate, as Oldenbourg's background as a novelist creeps into her narrative style. As long as you remember to properly account for her biases, though, it shouldn't prove a problem. At the very least, the bias she brings to the topic is fairly easy to notice, which makes it easy to adjust for.

Your syllabus makes it clear that large scale survey titles are not really appropriate for this project, and so I wonder if a book on "The Crusades" might not be too broad. If that's the case, you might try this title (https://server1.ipage.ingrambook.com/ipage/servlet/ibg.product.search.br1100?actionType=search&viewType=S&searchType=simple&productType=Book&productLimit=EXTD&searchBy=Author_ID&searchTerm=255668&idLabel=Oldenbourg%2C+Zoe&sortOrder=DMND&page=1&index=2) , also by Oldenbourg, as something a little more focused on a single event. I don't think that the book you found is necessarily a bad choice, and given the availability of some of the other recent books on the subject, you might well snap it up.

A couple of other titles to mention are The Crusades: A Short History (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0300047002/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_1/102-0942857-2372164), which appears to still be rather widely read, and The Crusades: a History (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0786711051/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_2/102-0942857-2372164) , which is the most recent book-length overview of the Crusades, but suffers from post-September-11th Syndrome.

[wbonnell]

Originally posted by Shkspr
The customer reviews you may have read at Amazon are fairly accurate, as Oldenbourg's background as a novelist creeps into her narrative style. As long as you remember to properly account for her biases, though, it shouldn't prove a problem. At the very least, the bias she brings to the topic is fairly easy to notice, which makes it easy to adjust for.

Sounds like excellent fodder (read: low hanging fruit) to me! :)


Your syllabus makes it clear that large scale survey titles are not really appropriate for this project, and so I wonder if a book on "The Crusades" might not be too broad.

Good point; I had not considered that. We'll see what the professor has to say.

Can I infer from your response that you have some formal training in history? If so, I'd be interested to hear your perspective. I went into this program fully expecting to major (actually, specialize) in philosophy, but the more I dig into historiography, the more I interested in history I become. At the very least, it seems an easier subject to get my head around...

[Shkspr]

No formal training in history here, just some background as a librarian and a bookseller. You tell me what kind of book you need, I check my sources and try to pull out the two or three best options for you based on what you require and what I can find out about each. If you'd been looking for primary sources or something from fifty years ago, I'd have had to do some real research. :)

[yabanci]

By far the best book I've read on the crusades is Amin Maalouf's "The Crusades Through Arab Eyes."

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0805208984/ref=pd_pyml_ys/103-0053777-5451865?v=glance

[wbonnell]

Originally posted by yabanci
By far the best book I've read on the crusades is Amin Maalouf's "The Crusades Through Arab Eyes."

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0805208984/ref=pd_pyml_ys/103-0053777-5451865?v=glance

Definitely an interesting perspective. However, the author does not appear to be a professional historian. Then again, neither was Oldenbourg...

[Abe Sargent]

I had an entire class on the Six Days war and you think that The Crusades is one event? One Crusade might arguably be one event. A Battle is probably one event. But not all of the Crusades lumped together.

-Anxiety

[wbonnell]

Originally posted by Anxiety
I had an entire class on the Six Days war and you think that The Crusades is one event? One Crusade might arguably be one event. A Battle is probably one event. But not all of the Crusades lumped together.

-Anxiety

Actually, I think I'm okay (assuming I'm interpreting the syllabus correctly):

A history book that deals with a historical event, episode, movement, or short historical period that occurred BEFORE 1963. the book itself can be written at any time, but the TOPIC must be before 1963.

[sabotai]

Judging by that, and I'm going just on that one line, it sounds liek you'll be fine with 1 crusade, but all of them? Remember, there were several crusades and from the 1st to the last was quite a long period of time (a few centuries)

[wbonnell]

For those interested , I have decided to read and critique Garrett Mattingly's <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0395083664/qid=1068523453/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/104-6319915-7365507?v=glance&n=507846">The Armada</A>

[sabotai]

Defeat of the Spanish Armada...good choice.

[Shkspr]

Now, see, if you'd told me you were looking at Elizabethan era history, I could've spoken to you with a formal background. ;)

Good luck on the paper - will you be posting it in your dynasty, too?

[wbonnell]

Originally posted by Shkspr
Now, see, if you'd told me you were looking at Elizabethan era history, I could've spoken to you with a formal background. ;)

Well, I wasn't really. However, the professor has a list of recommended books, and this one piqued my interest.

I deduced from your previous post that you studied library science. Is that correct?



Good luck on the paper - will you be posting it in your dynasty, too?

Yes I will. However, i don't expect it to be very exciting. After all, it's an historiography critique.