How can the Crusades be called "glorious"? Our modern mindset says they were ugly wars of greed and religious intolerance-a big reason why Christians and Muslims today can't coexist peacefully. Historian Steve Weidenkopf challenges this received narrative. Drawing on the latest and most authentic medieval scholarship, he presents a compelling case for understanding the Crusades as they were when they happened: "armed pilgrimages" driven by a holy zeal to recover conquered Christian lands. Without whitewashing their failures and even crimes, he debunks the numerous myths about the Crusades that our secular culture uses as clubs to attack the Church. In place of these myths he offers men and women of faith and valor who pledged their lives for the honor of Christ's holy places. With a storyteller's gift, Weidenkopf relates the Crusades' many dramas-their heroes and villains, battles and sieges, intrigues and coincidences-offering a vivid and engrossing account of events that have profoundly affected the course of our world to the present day. Book jacket.