num_pages: 247
description: First published in 1983, this new paperback makes Ronald Finucane's study of the crusades available once more. Focusing more on the social history of the crusades rather than events, he describes the social make-up of the crusading forces, their hardships, conditions, disputes, bravery, recruitment, financing of the wars and life for those left behind. He also devotes much of the book to religious ideology, asking why the crusades took place and why they eventually declined. Although the jacket blurb states that `little has been written about crusading from the point of view of the actual participants' (presumably referring to scholarship up to 1983), more recent publications have addressed this subject.
language: English
title: Soldiers of the Faith: Crusaders and Muslims at War
publisher: Orion Publishing Group